The New Generation of Pirates
by BuckBeard
Summary: Epic story about the pirates after the end of the reign of Pirate King Roronoa Zoro! New characters take center stage, and past favorites have their history explained, as a new organization appears to declare war on pirates. Follow the Bullet Ballistic on this tale of romance, action, adventure, and humor. Original Devil Fruit powers.
1. Enter:The one who'll conquer Grand Line!

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE OR ANY OF IT'S PROPERTIES. THIS IS MERELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES NOT PROFIT. ALL RIGHTS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS  
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Author's Note: I came up with this idea for a story when I was listening to music a couple of days ago. This is after the peak of the Strawhats, and is a story involving at least one of the Strawhats offspring as he (or she) explores a whole new adventure, meets new friends, and makes new enemies. I hope this story is grammatically correct and has little to no spelling mistakes, and most importantly, sticks to the originals charms and laughs of One Piece. Thank you for reading, please R&R!

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"You have absolutely no idea how to properly coat the propellor do you ?" The older gray bearded man boringly asked his young subordinate. This was quite a nuisance for his usually lax job. Considering that he was a captain on the rise to becoming a commodore to fill the space left behind by a deceased comrade, he had a sweet gig just ordering around grunts in one of the many Marine shipyards. Unfortunately, this subordinate in particular was surprisingly ignorant of many things that the most green Marine shipwrights were required to know. The subordinate was supposedly gifted, but he showed absolutely no signs of such promise.

"Well I mean I've n-nevered had any real experience dealing with these new Marine ships. I-I've usually worked with dinghies or lifeboats, and it is kinda dark out now," the young subordinate said. His shoulders were slacked as he managed to gasp out what he said, partially because he was tired from having attempted to coat a part of the Caravel, and partly because he was nervous.

"Well, allow me to explain what will happen to the intelligence crew that boards this ship if your coating is lacking even in the sligh-KABOOOM!" The old man suddenly lifted his arms above his head and yelled the last part as loud as he could, extracting a "Wahh!" from the young recruit. "If you mess up even a bit, they all will explode. Fatally."

The subordinate raised a eyebrow and scratched his short black spiky hair, as if pondering something. He still hadn't gotten used to captain's random screams so his thoughts were a bit disrupted.

"Uhh….Captain Steadcroak…I think I would be better suited to just do custodial work and minor maintenance rather than doing something that carries this much responsibility. Besides, I'm the only person that I have to take care of so I think I would be fine just working small for the rest of my life…rather than trying to move up.."

"And you think coating small ships is going to be a way to move up? Please, this is fodder work if I've ever seen it. I'm only here to make sure that screw-ups, such as yourself, keep a good eye on your work until I leave for the Navy base east of here. And I do not have to listen to your petty concerns, Recruit Bucket.

"Um..it's Buckley sir."

"Whatever Buckwheat. Head over to the storage room, get a mop, and clean the floors, since you have such a janitorial related fetish to do so. I'll get someone else to do a basic coating for these ships. I honestly thought you were as good as Gass said bu-DAMNNNNN!….was he wrong." Steadcroak shook his head as he walked away in a swaying motion.

Buckley sighed and began the short walk up the wooden stairs to the storage room down the dimly lit hallway. The shipyard was on the far coast of South Blue on the island Kaze, far away from Grand Line, and since nearly every pirate nowadays was rushing to Grand Line to claim lands and chase dreams, there was minimal interference for the Marines working here. For this reason, and the proximity of Karate Island where a ton of Marine recruits were snapped up, South Blue was considered a great place to keep a shipyard for the Marines. It was also his home. Buckley was about 18 years old now, and since he could no longer make a living eating daily at the soup kitchen and sleeping in day shelters, he decided to join the Marines.

Buckley opened the door to the storage room and pulled out the soggy, moss covered mop, and turned to trek his way back to the outside yard. It seemed Steadcroak hadn't brought out the "expert" yet (not suprising considering how late it was), so he silently got to work swabbing the deck. As he worked, he quietly fumed to himself.

"What a simpleton! _I'll get someone else to do a basic coating_. As if anyone could learn with your stupid instructions and the foul odor you emit distracting them. Shave that thing off of your chin or wash it old man, it's your ch-"Buckley cut himself off to turn each way to make sure no one was listening."-oice!"

After about 30 more minutes of silently cursing his captain and mopping every inch, he noticed a barrel floating in the water. It was a rather large barrel, maybe big enough to hold two or three people and surprisingly enough it had a makeshift flag fixed on top. The flag had a poorly scrawled jolly roger on it of what appeared to be a face smiling with sword crossbones. It seemed to Buckley as though someone tried to imitate the symbol of the infamous Heart Pirates and added swords. It slowed and washed ashore on the shoreline a couple hundred feet away from the deck. Knowing as soon-to-be maintenance it was his duty to keep the entire shipyard spotless,he headed down to dispose of the garbage. After a short jog he reached the barrel and grabbed it preparing to drag it to the pile where the Marines periodically burned trash.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"shrieked the barrel.

Buckley fell over and stared wide eyed at the barrel. His usually light brown skin tone turned pale as he watched the barrel in fear. It definitely just screamed at him. He looked to either side of his person. He had no firearms, no weapons, nothing to help him defend himself. Even if he did have a weapon, he was sure he wouldn't be able to actually use it. The barrel spoke again.

"I'm on land! I feel it! No more seasickness! Only adventure! Dreams! Puppies and money!" Buckley was sure it was a woman's voice, and he came to the conclusion it was someone that was shoved off to sea to die.

"Um hello?"

"Pupp-eh? Who's out there? Am I in the Grand Line?" The voice from within sounded excited and had a curious tone to it.

Buckley scratched his head. She must have drifted all the way from Grand Line! Surely she was starved. "No ma'am this is South Blue. Are you from the Grand Line? What part? Do you need help?"

"Awwww jeez. Well this ship would've been perfect if I had just put up a sail and some eyeholes…..or maybe water would've came in? Maybe I could just drink it then. Then I wouldn't have to worry about starving! Wahahaha!"

"Uh…you can't just drink sea water like that...and you'd still starve. And you…put yourself in there?"

"What? Well yeah I did duh! Then I was going to sail to the Grand Line and claim everything!" The voice in the barrel sounded determined and slightly too excited at the moment.

Buckley couldn't believe what he just heard. This maniacal woman thought she could drift for hundreds of miles to the Grand Line and simply "conquer it." This was as stupid as Steadcroak.

"Right…..I'd advise that you head to town and see the doctor. I'll let you out now." He pulled on the top of the barrel and was met with some resistance. Apparently the woman was holding onto the top to make sure her lid didn't come off (which was funny to Buckley since her proverbial "lid" did come off). He pulled harder and found that he couldn't pull it off with all his strength. He knocked on the top.

"Let go of the top, I can't get you out of there."

"I'm not holding onto anything. I fried it shut so I wouldn't have to do something stupid like that, stupid."

Buckley felt his face heat up at being called stupid by this stupid woman that stupidly locked herself up in a barrel to stupidly drift to Grand Line to stupidly get killed by stupid pirates.

"YOUR THE STUPID ONE! HOW THE HELL DID YOU PLAN ON GETTING OUT ANYWAY STUPID!" He balled up his fist and yelled at the barrel, angrier than before after he said the words.

"LIKE THIS STUPID!" a loud *shing* was heard as a large sword sliced through from the inside of the barrel, cutting a clean gap, and having such momentum it landed and shook the ground on the shore slightly, making a loud crash and knocking Buckley several yards back off his feet. Buckley's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he marveled at the feat in fear and awe. Considering the barrel was on it's side when the sword came crashing through, it was impressive force on her part to do this incredible damage while laying on her side. The woman got up quickly and looked left and right until she found Buckley laying on the ground. She ran over dragging her massive sword behind her and grabbed his collar. She put a awkward scary grin on her face."

"Who were you calling stupid, stupid?"

"….I…Uh…..I.." He couldn't even get the the words out for fear of being splattered by the sword she had in tow.

"Wahahaha! Your supposed to call me stupid back! That's how friends argue with each other stupid!" She said as she closed her eyes and gave a toothy grin. Buckley looked at her and guessed she was younger than him or around his age and still quite naive based on her previous actions and her thinking someone calling you stupid is "friendly." She had slightly long, dark hair hair that ran down about half of her neck, and was spiky at parts near her face. It slightly covered her ears and she had silver studs in her ears. She was lighter than he was, a peach kind of color, and was slightly under his height, him being about 5'10.

"Umm…yeah (his eyebrow twitched slightly)…stupid….."

"You said I'm in South Blue? Where is that? Can you take me to Grand Line?" She asked him with a fire in her brown eyes, and he could tell she was deadly serious. The worst kind of serious.

"Well first of all you shouldn't just trust strangers ma'am. You don't even know my name ye-" She slammed the sword hard on the ground and gripped his collar tighter while looking him in the eye.

"Name?"

"BUCKET!" He nervously yelled out.

"Bucket? That's a stupid name but ok! Wahahaha! Bucket lead me to the Grand Line!"

"…Wha? Wait no, it's Buckley! Buckley! And I can't just take you to Grand Line! That's the most dangerous sea! And I don't want to die! But I can give you directions! Just don't kill me!"

She just stared at him for about 20 seconds. Then she casually said "I like Bucket more."

"It's Bucket! Bucket!"

"Why are you here Bucket?"

"I'm a Marine-" Buckley froze. This woman was floating in a barrel with a pirate flag. A pirate flag. She had monstrous strength, and she obviously thought she was strong enough to make in Grand Line. She wasn't too stable, and him admitting he was a Marine would end badly. "Umm…" he got out, "I'm a Marine…enemy..because I…dislike them"

"Why do you have on a uniform"

"Uh (truth be told he was hoping she wouldn't be smart enough to notice) well I was…infiltrating them to…destroy them…?"

"Ewww. You destroy people. I don't like people like that."

"I WAS JUST KIDDING! I'm actually a Marine, but I only recently joined to make money for myself that's the only reason so please don't destroy me!" His eye winced as he yelled this all out.

"Your wrong," she smiled. "Your a navigator in my pirate crew now!"

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Author's Notes:

Tell me what you think. Reviews and criticism help with the writing process! Again thank you for reading! Updates Daily


	2. I'm Special!

Author's Notes: This chapter is a bit more dialogue oriented. Trying to show the "girl's" attitude, her goals, and give her a reason to want to go to Grand Line. If you haven't already noticed, at this point this story is mostly Buckley's views on things and how he feels about certain events will be described with words he would use. Later on I might switch to different characters. Thanks to my first reviewer I enjoyed your review!

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**CHAPTER 2: "I'm Special!"**

"Pirate crew? You want me to join your pirate crew?" He skeptically raised an eyebrow. Despite the fact that he probably would have done anything she said at this point, it didn't mean that he wouldn't question such a ludicrous request. They had walked over from the shoreline up to a grove of trees a short walk away, where Buckley sometimes went to escape from his captain and to collect his thoughts. He especially needed this environment now.

"Yeah my pirate crew," she grinned at him. "You said your only a marine to make money? If you join my pirate crew there'll be lots o' money. And animals, and things to see, and things to touch, and things to try, an-"

"Wait a minute…" he cut her off. "That's insane. I'm a marine. And to be honest your idea of a pirate ship wasn't too great. And your like, the only individual in your "crew" right? What kind of captain are you to just randomly recruit people?" Buckley's confidence was slowly increasing as he angrily lectured to the young woman.

"Wahahaha!…Stupid, I know you! Your Bucket! The navigator of my pirate crew! You use a lot of big words, and you just said that you could get me to Grand Line! I believe you and since your a marine you've probably sailed all over the place!"

Buckley eyed her as he tried to make a mental list of how many "big words" he had said, and came to the conclusion that the biggest one was "individual." This girl wasn't the smartest in the world, but she did have a sweet positive attitude and air about her. Unfortunately, this was exactly why he didn't want her to go to Grand Line. She was so trusting on initial meeting and impulse. He was sure she would get slaughtered the second she entered. And if she would get slaughtered, he would be _obliterated._

"Well….actually I've never left Kaze before…..that's the island we're on….um but I've studied sea charts before, but not nearly enough to charter a course or anything. I'm afraid I can't go and I don't think you should either"

"So. I'll find my way." There goes that confidence again.

"So…? But…uh..not trying to insult you or anything, but it seems like I know a little more than you do in the field of navigation and survival, and I don't even know that much. I mean, you wouldn't even know how to deal with the rapid changes and adaptations you would have to make. You wouldn't know how to properly enter the Grand Line without attempting to cross the calm belt, and since it has such static waves year round, so many sea monsters would pop out and eat you, and even if you made it the southeastern front will make it nearly impossible for you to cope without steam powered propulsion. You wouldn't know ho-"

"SHUT UP!" She yelled loudly enough to elicit a jumping reaction from Buckley. "All your doing is telling me what I can't do and what you think I can't do! Why the HELL DO YOU THINK ALL OF THE GREAT PIRATE CAPTAINS HAVE A GREAT CREW!"

Buckley bit down on his lip. He felt terrible about what he said. He just assumed that she was this complete idiot that was rushing to her death trusting people so easily. Maybe she was a lot smarter than he gave her credit for. What was wrong with this girl trusting him anyway? He really didn't plan on killing her or turning her in or anything. Maybe she had some sort of ability to see the good in people.

"I'm sorry…I just get nervous at times, so I try to point out faults in others to boost myself up…whenever my boss gives me trouble I do the same thing.." Buckley said to her. He was staring down at his own two feet with his knees hunched up against him.

"Wahahaha it's nothing! I'm used to people trying to make me feel sad. That's why I smile anyway." Her words made him feel worse, but still he was enthralled by her blind charisma.

"Why are you going to the Grand Line anyway? To find One Piece?"

"Well, now that I think about it, that would just be a plus. I'm really going to have fun and claim all the free stuff. If your tough enough you can keep whatever you get too. I'm plenty tough." She flexed her arm to show him. He wasn't really impressed.

Buckley spread his legs out and laid his hands down on either side of himself. "So how long have you wanted to go to Grand Line? What's your name? And uh..how in the world do you wield that thing so easily?" He stared at the sheer size of the sword. It looked about a foot wide, and was easily about her height. It was colored a dim gray, and had a hole in the middle with jagged teeth, which he assumed (grimly) was to skewer an opponents head. It was dulled, he had to admit, probably from years of wear and tear, but he found it hard to believe she was old enough to have done this much damage to the sword.

"Wahahaha (her laugh was annoying, he noted), I've wanted to go since 2 years back, and I've been trying ever since. This is the closest I ever got though. I once could swim, but now I can't, so I can't swim there. I go by Haven. And I can use this sword because I'm special!" The last part she said in a perky way and looked at him to see if he was impressed. He still wasn't. That answered some of his questions, albeit a bit vaguely. He decided not to pry anymore for information. He just decided to sit and listen as she went on and talked about how she was going to find the most amazing things in Grand Line and how she was going to do whatever she wanted once she made it there. After some time he found himself interested listening to the exotic imaginations she described and soon he found himself wishing to go (minus all the danger). She finished when the sun finally showed up, to his disappointment.

"…And that's not even the half of it!….I'm getting tired," she said as her eyes visibly drooped before him. She probably was exhausted, considering she had pulled an all nighter with him, and the fact that she probably couldn't sleep in that barrel.

"Well, I guess you can just sleep here and I can bring you a pillow if you want or I can show you to town," he offered to her. Despite his initial fear of her, he had grown used to her and figured he would try to help her out.

"Are you going to stay with me in town? After I sleep we can get a ship and leave for the Grand Line! I saw a lot of ships back when I first got out the barrel!"

"Um…I don't think I can go to Grand Line. I still have a job to do here, and frankly I don't want to die. I'm too weak and I don't know how to rob or pillage or fight or anything, but I'm sure you can make it to Grand Line yourself and conquer everything!"

She did her awkward 20 second stare again and looked down at her shoes, which were a bit sandy and wet. "I tell you what Bucket. I'll be back." Then she got up with a start and walked solemnly over to the beach side. He got up after her to see where she was going. She walked up to her flag and folded it neatly. She walked back to Buckley and handed it to him. "You hold onto this. I'll. Be. Back." Then she walked away, still lazily dragging the sword behind her. Buckley figured that couldn't be good for the blade, but also felt a bit of joy at having made a good friend, albeit a scary, slightly psychotic one. He wondered when (and HOW) she would turn up again. He turned and walked back to the deck to prepare for roll call, tired.

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Author's Notes: Please review and critique. I plan on delving a bit more into why Haven is "special," and when and HOW she comes back. Updates are twice a day, daily.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Chapter 3 is here already. I've decided to keep moving with this rapid pace to move the story to the exciting bits as quickly as possible, but I'm trying to keep a high level of detail and quality. The perspective will change one time in this chapter, and I'm introducing a few more characters. Thank you for taking the time to read this fanfic

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CHAPTER 3: "My Career Issssss"

Buckley walked to the deck to see most of the other recruits were already assembled. This meant that his timing was perfect, and even though he was a bit tired, he was ready to begin the day. He figured that maybe the other Marines saw him talking to Haven and would question him about her identity. Fortunately, no one had any questions, and the safely folded flag was stuffed flatly under his shirt. He fell into line and waited for Steadcroak to arrive. This was a bit unusual. Usually, Captain Steadcroak was already on the deck yelling and judging people based on their tastes in clothes (they all had the same uniform), but today he hadn't arrived yet. For the next hour, the marines waited patiently for the Captain to arrive, but there was no such arrival. After another hour, impatience was rampant, and some of the bolder recruits started to converse or walk around. After one more hour every single marine was just wasting time on the deck, playing cards somewhere, or practicing karate.

Buckley was busy playing cards with a couple of acquaintances on deck when he suddenly heard sounds of cannon fire. He immediately fell prone and looked around rapidly. As he peeked under the table, he saw another recruit's feet walk to the edge of the deck. He heard the recruit gasp and he saw his feet lifted off of the ground.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU!" The recruit screamed as he was launched and came crashing down in the soft sands of the beach. Buckley peered over to his side and saw that the recruit was still alive, but he looked to be in quite a bit of pain. More sounds of cannon fire and more recruits were launched off of their feet. Buckley was speechless. Whenever the cannon fire sound was heard, a marine would be lifted off of their feet and would be sent into walls, the other side of the beach, or even the water. But if a cannon hit them directly, wouldn't they be ripped apart, or at least sent in the direction the ball was coming? It seemed like the recruits were being scattered everywhere. Buckley peered over the table and looked directly ahead for the first time.

On the one Marine galleon far from the shipyard shore (used to serve as intimidation to any small-time pirates) were two men standing. One was definitely Steadcroak. Buckley was sure enough in his gifted eyes to spot the ragged gray beard from miles away. The other was…..

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**Earlier on a Marine galleon ship**

"Drahahaha! You old bastard! Your too damn old to be worried about promotions or moving up anywhere but an office. Your gonna get hurt real bad soon as you leave this place." The middle aged man laughed at his comrade. He smoothed his grizzled brown hair and cracked up again at the thought of the old man before him moving up in rank to a General! Or was it a Admiral or something like that? As the man scratched his head to ponder this thought, the sound echoed throughout the small, bright room they were sitting in. The smell of the old man made the room feel unbearable, so the younger man assumed when the Marines all got on this ship together they would make it a point to stay away from this old man.

The old man in question scratched his gray beard and stared intently at the other man. "I'm only 54. I have a lot of fight left in me. I heard VA Garp made it to 90 before he kicked it. He had the right idea. Get to the highest rank possible while your old, retire, and make a killing in the checks they gotta sen-BAMMMMMMM! Money!"

The brown-haired man shook his head. Despite how long he knew the old man, he still was prone to the childish explosion noises. "Yeah I get it. You wanna get highest rank possible and quit to buy the young gals hearts and all that other garbage. But you think you can get there by stopping a Blue seas pirate?"

"Not just any Blue Sea pirate! The legendary Six Wo-"

"Nine."

"-Nine Wolf! You know your one of those boys that could make it in the Grand Line? For you to have such a high bounty in the Blues….wel-DAMMMMMMMNNN you gotta be impressive!" The old man had his arms up as he said this, as though he was basking in his own glory.

"Right. So I attack the Marine base to speed up your promotion? How do you even know it's coming Steadcroak? And let me emphasize ME attacking a MARINE BASE!" Nine Wolf growled at the old man.

Steadcroak laughed loudly. "It's a shipyard for the Marines. You simply arrive and cause some havoc. I'll act like I was beaten at some point somewhere, and at the last possible moment I arrive and defeat you and drive you away!"

Nine Wolf raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would you have gotten beaten "at some point?" Won't that hurt your case?"

"It's called realism and drama. If I were to go down against one of the strongest pirates in the Blues and I were to come back and defeat him at the height of his- POOOOOOOWWWW! I beat him!"

Nine Wolf palmed his face at the stupidity of the plot and the obvious backlash Steadcroak would suffer. But then he got to thinking about his reward. "Along with the 10 million….you'll also convince your superiors to stop "observing" my actions? I basically will get immunity right? And why pray tell, would they not go after the guy that is staged to WHIP YOUR ASS?"

Steadcroak appeared surprised at this revelation and looked to be thinking deeply. Nine Wolf stared harder at him. "Uh.." began Steadcroak, "you'll also have a rise in infamy and bounty, meaning less disturbance and interference from your fellow pirates. And you let me worry about that." Nine Wolf thought about the former thing he said. It did work out he guessed. He avoided the Marines easily anyway, so him getting immunity or not was no big deal. But intimidation! Now that was important.

"It's a deal then. When should I attack and where on the shipyard?" Nine Wolf cracked his knuckles.

"You don't have to worry about the little details. You'll attack at 9 o'clock since those idiots will be waiting for roll call, and I'll be with you to give you specific directions. And beforehand, NO CASUALTIES. I can't have any of those idiots dead or they might question my leadership!" Steadcroak slammed his fist on the table.

"Why the hell are you looking after me Steadcroak? I'm a grown ass man, and again I gotta question your damn mind. Won't it look funny as hell if your casually with me while I beat the hell outta your troops?"

"Your abilities are long range right? You can attack from a good distance right? You think you could take out some guys from the top of this vessel? It's quite a ways away from the deck, and none of those idiots will recognize me, though some of the older ones will definitely recognize your abilities. They'll think I'm a first mate or something if they see me. And besides after what happened to Wolves one-eight I'm sure the latest will need a babysitter." Nine Wolf sneered at the old man's lack of respect for his fallen predecessors but replied anyway.

"Everyone from here to North Blue knows I fly solo. Suppose you get caught?"

"Well I guess my career isssss-KABOOOOOMMMMM!"

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"What the….hell? I-I-I-ITS NINE WOLF! WE CAN'T SEE HIM BUT IT HAS TO BE NINE WOLF!" A fully certified Marine arrived on deck and screamed to all the lower ranking recruits. " Buckley felt his heart skip. Nine Wolf? This was the second most powerful man in West Blue, one of the stronger seas. Buckley was well aware of his strength. His 43 million bounty was more than enough to prove that. It was said that he could destroy a caravel with his body alone, and he supposedly could do more damage if he were to use his lantern shield or the power of something called a "devil fruit." Buckley looked on scared as Nine Wolf held a open palm up. When he squeezed it shut, the cannon fire sound came and Buckley felt himself lifted cleanly off the deck and launched towards the beach.

"GWWWAAAA!" Buckley emitted a masculine squeal as he crashed headfirst into the beach. He landed next to his dazed comrade from earlier and crawled towards him to see if he was conscious. He read the recruit's name tag and slapped him awake calling his name.

"Sickland! Get up! SICKLAND!" Buckley slapped harder until Sickland stirred. Stickland sat up immediately, and turned to face Buckley. His usual calm brown eyes were wider than they ever were in his life and he jumped up quickly holding out his hand to help Buckley up. It seemed the adrenaline was aiding Sickland in his plight.

"What's going on?" Sickland's smooth brown hair was now spiky like his own, and his face was still covered in sand.

"Nine Wolf is attacking us! He's sending us flying everywhere randomly with some weird thing in his hands!" Buckley yelled out at him.

Sickland turned pale. "N-N-Ninewolf? W-Who? What are we gonn-" Sickland's ear twitched and he turned and looked up. His eyes widened more (if that's possible) as his mouth flew open and he yelled, "LOOK OUT!"

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Author's Notes: Please review and critique as always!


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: Chapter four already! I've been flying through these updates, mostly because I have everything to Chapter 7 saved on my computer. I try to upload chapters fast, so I won't think so much as to modify too much before they are released. Thank you for reading! And I want to point out these are NOT the Strawhat's children. They may be descendants (possibly) but I don't plan on copying any of the Strawhat's personalities, abilities, etc;

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**CHAPTER FOUR: "Maybe He Can Teleport Things?" Nine Wolf's Mysterious Abilities**

"Oi! Eight wo-'"

"Nine!"

"Whatever. I think you splattered those two idiots over there. What part of NO CASUALTIES don't you get son?" Steadcroak was furious. The galleon they were on was so far from the Marine deck that he had to use a new form of binoculars to see it and the beach line along it. The "casualties" in question were two Marine recruits along the beach that pointed up and stared in terror at a massive locker crashing down on them. The locker was the gigantic one that was on the opposite side of the beach, so it appeared to Steadcroak that Nine Wolf went out of his way to smash those two in particular. The locker landed so flatly, and with so little guts splattering out, he wondered if the two were hammered completely into the sand. He pulled down the binoculars. "Well I guess since they were still recruits no one is going to be asking too many questions."

"What are you talking about? That's not how my devil fruit works. I can't just throw anything I want." Nine Wolf calmly said to the old man and continued his casual onslaught.

"How does it work then? What is your ability anyway? The Marines know you can kinda force people and sometimes ships through the air, but at times you can't even lift a stick."

"And why would I inform a MARINE about my abilities? For all I know, as soon as your in power, you'll use that information to fight me. I'm sure I can kill you, but the last thing I need is one of your superiors coming to take me out." Nine Wolf was the smartest Wolf by far. He was sure that he was going to survive longer than 14 years. 14 years. That was the longest any of the Wolves had ever survived as pirate on the sea. Granted, the ones that died in 2 or 3 days were the ones brave enough to head to Grand Line, with the exception of the one who made it and lived there for 14 years. But Nine Wolf was smarter than that. He would break the previous record set, collect a lot of money, and simply retire and live the rest of his life in luxury under a assumed identity. Ironically, his planned future was a lot like the despicable old man's _stupid _retirement plan.

"Bah. Whatever. Keep your stupid abilities to yourself I'm just curious is all."

"Well just stay curious and see how far that gets you Steadcock. Drahahaha!"

"Funny." Steadcroak walked away resisting the urge to burst out into laughter along with Nine Wolf. He had to admit it was a funny play on his name, but he didn't want to give Nine Wolf the satisfaction. He itched his beard and walked down the steps along the side of the boat to the huge lifeboat. This lifeboat or some whatchamacallit had a weird thing on it called a whack or some other weird name the young guys gave it. He boarded it and yelled up to Nine Wolf, "I'm gonna ride the lifeboat around the back side near the wall so they won't see me. Then at the height of your attack when you move closer to the shore, I'll dramatically ride back along the wall and behind you to show up and punch you in the f-WHAMMMMM!"

Nine Wolf found about four things wrong with what the old man just said. Nevertheless, he continued his attack and without turning back yelled at the man, "first of all that's called a "steam boat." It's too damn big to be a simple lifeboat. Secondly, I doubt you can work that thing and do all that maneuvering you planned out. Next, I want to point out this is a galleon! How in the blind duck fuck am I supposed to get this thing closer to shore? You need a crew to properly sail this thing! And stop yelling your plan so loudly! And punch me in the face? When did that become part of the plan?"Nine Wolf miscounted how many things were wrong with that plan.

"Stop whining! Use your ability to throw our ships where they need to be and just do your job." Obviously this old man did not understand how difficult this would be for Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf silently swore to himself to punish him later.

"Fine! Can you at least work that ship a little?"

"I can figure out something you idiot! Now just move me to the hiding spot and I'll do the rest!"

Oh yeah. Nine Wolf definitely planned to harm Steadcroak later. He raised his palm in the direction of the steamboat, which was behind the ship and safe from the view of the Marines, and pointed two fingers forward. The steamboat's weight made it difficult, but he managed to let it glide silently across the water and along the wall. He then opened his palm to the galleon he was standing on and slowly lifted his hand in a manner as if he was shooing (yes, SHOOing) it into a forward direction. Slowly the large galleon crept along the water and toward the Marine deck. Since he was so far from the Deck he was sure it would take him about 4 minutes of strong concentration to crash the Galleon into it. He frowned angrily.

* * *

THOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM! The locker that was flying toward the two young men landed harmlessly in front of them, although it did still make them jump out of their pants. They landed on their backsides and stared at the massive locker that almost splattered the.

"He's throwing bigger stuff now! He's trying to kill everyone!" Buckley shrieked at Sickland.

"Who is Nine Wolf! Why is he attacking!" Sickland shrieked back at Buckley. Buckley trembled and prepared to answer, when suddenly the locker door flew open and a peach-skinned girl rolled out. Sickland's and Buckley's jaws dropped.

"Ouch…that hurt," the peach-skinned girl in question moaned holding her head.

"YOU IDIOT, OF COURSE IT HURTS!" The two young men screamed at her. Buckley blinked and took a good look at her scrappy hair and her familiar faded clothes. It was Haven! But what was she doing here?

"Haven! What the hell are you doing here? You've gotta get out of here now! Nine Wolf is attacking the Marine shipyard!" Buckley grabbed her shoulders and roughly shook her.

"Nine Wolf? The pirate? So. I can beat him up," she said in such a confident way Buckley almost believed her.

"Look how strong he is! He threw this locker all the way over here! He's going to kill us all, including you unless you get out of here!"

Haven got up as though she could care less what Buckley was telling her and walked back into the locker. She pulled out her monster of a sword, and calmly walked back to the pair of young men. "He didn't move that thing. I did by accident. But it's ok. If he's trying to hurt you Bucket I'll help you. I can't let my friend get hurt." She looked around. "Where is Nine Wolf?" Buckley and Sickland stared incredulously at her. She was prepared to fight Nine Wolf, and she claimed that she was the one that launched the heavy locker across the beach. Somehow, Buckley believed her.

"Buckley, you know her? Sickland stared wide eyed at him. It was now bordering on creepy.

"Yea…this is my friend Haven. I met her yesterday….she's really strong with that sword." Sickland looked at the sword and frowned as though he was skeptical. Buckley assured him that she actually could wield it with relative ease. But it didn't help his case that she looked as though she were struggling with it now.

"Haven…..what's wrong? Why do you look like your struggling to hold that? Are you hurt?" Buckley was a bit concerned. It was a miracle she was alive, she had to be plenty tough.

"Struggling? It's heavy! Of course I can't just lift it up easy!" She then easily slung the massive sword on her shoulder, much to Sickland's astonishment. "I still can't swing this thing right without using my help, but I'm getting closer," she smirked.

Her help? "Um, what do you mean your help? Why did you just tell us that thing is hard to lift, when you just lifted it like it was nothing? Come to think of it, there's no way even the strongest swordsman can use that dull edge to cut a clean hole through a heavy barrel while they are on their side! And how did you launch yourself across the beach?"

She looked at him again. "I told you I'm special. Now where is Nine Wolf?" Buckley swallowed a lump in his throat, and decided to put his faith in her. For some reason with her here, he didn't feel nervous at all.

Buckley pointed towards the Galleon far off, that appeared to be coming closer. "He's up there. And I saw my captain up there with him recently! I recognized his face and beard!"

Haven smiled. "Wow you have good eyes! He just looks like a speck over there! And you said you could see your silly captain's beard?"

Sickland spoke up as well. "It's true. I heard him yelling something to Nine Wolf. I'm certain of it. And I also heard the wind splitting from your locker almost landing on us."

"So you can see really good, and you can hear really good?" Haven cracked a bigger smile. "You two would be great navigators for my crew!"

Sickland raised an eyebrow, but Buckley just nudged him as if to say "just go along with it."

"Right, so how are you going to fight him? It looks like he's coming closer on the galleon, but he's so strong. Maybe when he gets closer his powers are stronger?"

"Maybe his powers are gravity related?"

"Maybe he can teleport things?"

"What if he uses invisible cannon balls that turn in random directions, and we're just tough enough to survive?"

The two would-be navigators nervously speculated on Nine Wolf's powers while Haven looked to either one whenever they gave their opinion. She was sure it couldn't be anything like that. That wouldn't be fair for her and crew to fight someone that could do all that. She slammed her sword into the beach to get their attention. Buckley noticed she didn't slam it, so much as she simply let it fall off her shoulder. He wondered how massive a smash would be if she put force behind it.

"Ok. Let's go meet him and smash him." She grimly said this, with a hint of excitement. Buckley and Sickland swallowed and followed her as she started walking up back to the deck to confront Nine Wolf.

* * *

Author's Notes: As always, please rate and critique!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Thanks to my sole reviewer thus far. Yes I like to update frequently, as I believe it keeps people interested and I have a big story in my head now to tell so I have to let everything flow. This chapter has a cliffhanger (warning) but it's quite a bit longer than previous chapters so I think that more than makes up for it! Enjoy reading.

* * *

**CHAPTER 5: I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS**

"W-Wait a minute Haven….uh..are we sure that this is the best thing to do? I mean he is still far away, maybe we can just run and hide somewhere." Sickland pitched his idea to Haven.

"No." She simply said and kept dragging her sword behind her as she made her way up the steep, sandy hill.

"This is what we have to do Sickland. We're Marines….almost. It's our duty to live up to the code we've sworn to." Buckley felt his confidence at an all time high in his life. Sickland stared at Buckley wondering if he was always this courageous. Whenever he usually saw him, he was just another nameless grunt (like himself) that was a bit more timid than others. Buckley's physique was slightly muscular, perhaps naturally so, but his body language made him seem so weak. Sickland wanted his confidence to jump as high as Buckley's did so he puffed out his chest and walked faster to keep pace with Haven.

"Your right. This is what I signed up for….I want to be useful and make a good difference in this world. But we have to at the very least come up with a strategy," Sickland said. Buckley stopped and came to the conclusion that Sickland was right. No matter how powerful Haven truly was, she couldn't just defend against somehow being plucked and launched somewhere randomly. Haven slowed and turned to face Sickland.

"Strategy? Like what? Can't we just hit him?" She seemed completely oblivious to Nine Wolf's power. Sickland opened his mouth to answer.

"Not exactly. We have two questions we have to answer before we can beat this guy. The first question is, _what is his true ability,_ and _how can we cancel it_? He can lift people and hurl them great distances in any given direction. But he's not using any crates, lockers, or beams to try to take us out. Considering all the stuff we have on the deck, he could've just taken us all out with one clean swoop or heck, lifted the deck himself. When I got launched, I noticed that nothing around me moved, and it felt as though my inside was thrown." Sickland looked at either one of his companions to see if they had any input.

"I had the same happen to me," said Buckley. He gripped his chest and looked down. "It felt like someone grabbed my inside and threw me….well actually…it felt like someone grabbed something in me." Cannon shot noise. Buckley looked up just in time to see one of the bigger recruits, a small giant, get launched across the beach. He was flying through the air a lot higher and faster than the smaller recruits. Sickland looked up as well and blinked repeatedly. He slowly turned to Haven.

"And your sure you were the one that sent the locker flying?"

Haven was looking down at her shoes as if interested more by them than their lives. She peered up and saw Sickland looking at her and answered "yeah. I was in the locker when all of a sudden I flew into the air. I got the stomach feeling just like you guys, but I don't know how I did that." She smiled as Buckley and Sickland face palmed.

"SO YOU DID GET LAUNCHED LIKE THE REST OF US!" They yelled in unison at her. She mixed her face in a snobbish way. "Well, I said I did it by accident. I could do it too if I wanted too!"

"Wait a minute!" Again the two men spoke in unison. They both smirked, and there eyes looked as though lightbulbs were flashing in them.

"What? What?" Haven had a confused look on her face as she questioned them. Buckley looked back over to see how closer Nine Wolf had gotten. He was moving at a pretty steady speed. Maybe about a minute or two away from crashing into the deck. He turned back to Haven. Before he could explain, Sickland spoke up.

"We figured out Nine Wolf's devil fruit. They say that Devil fruit users only have 1 ability granted to them by a fruit, and that the most skilled learn to manipulate that one power to do different things." He looked into her eyes to see if she was still listening. She was attentive for once. "His power, can not work on inanimate objects, unless certain conditions are met." She scratched her head.

Buckley continued. "He just threw a giant, but like Sickland said earlier, he couldn't move a simple beam to smack us off the deck. He threw you into the locker and launched it, rather than launching the locker itself. Finally, he's moving a galleon. It would be impossible for him to move that thing manually, since he would need a crew to help, and I can see him just standing up there alone. He's not known to have any crew mates, so he's not moving them and smacking them on the inside to move the ship. He's using his power _around_ the ship. Just like he used the power to grab you through the locker, and do all this. Do you get it yet?"

Haven put on an even more confused face. She wasn't a genius like these two. She thought Nine Wolf could just throw anything he wanted. "Maybe he just wanted to throw me and he can reach through the locker? And I guess he's throwing people because he doesn't want to ruin the nice deck so he can conquer it?"

Buckley shook his head. "That's not it. Think about it. How could he have known you were in that locker? And if he wanted the deck so badly, why is he making it a point to crash into it! Buckley pointed at the quickly approaching galleon. He turned back to Haven. "Your locker being lifted is the key to all of this! Don't you get it? He has the ability to…."

* * *

Nine Wolf chuckled to himself. He was moving a lot faster than he thought he was capable of. Although his progress started off slowly, he was quickly picking up speed. He let out a "drahahaha" and plucked a giant off of the deck and across the beach. The bigger ones are always easier to lift. It seemed ludicrous when you think about it in physical terms, but given the nature of his ability, it made a lot of sense. The deck was getting much closer, so he let up a bit on the flinging of poor, weak Marines. He felt bad for them, being sold out by their captain for a possible promotion. To be honest, the real reason he let up was because he was sick of focusing on hurling people, and making sure the ship kept moving. He only had two hands, so he had to make due. His lantern shield rested topside next to him on the floor, since it was so inconvenient to use his abilities while bearing it's weight.

He thought to himself how humorous it was for the old man to ask him how his ability worked. That was the beauty of it. In the 15 or so years they knew each other, Nine Wolf never told Steadcroak how it worked for one reason: it would be possible to stand a chance against him. With his lantern shield, and his secret, he was unbeatable. He wouldn't call the Marines stupid for never figuring it out. He made it a point to hide his limitations, and he remembered being a bit nervous when the old man pointed out that sometimes he couldn't lift certain things. He smiled nervously, and silently assured himself the old man only noticed that one thing in 15 years.

* * *

Haven's eyes widened to Sickland levels, which Buckley thought was creepy. "That's his power? That's so dumb! But I think that makes him hard to beat up." She frowned and slouched to her knees at the disappointment of not getting to hurt the guy that attacked her friends. How could she get close enough to even harm him. From what these two just told her she couldn't do anything. Buckley saw her confidence flicker for the first time. His mouth curled into a slow smile. He offered his hand to help her up.

"What are you doing? Get up! We need you to beat him, since we're only recruits. You use your powers, and we'll use our heads to help you beat him. That's why the best pirates have the best crews right?"

Haven looked up at Buckley's hand. Sickland's eyes thinned from the frightening widening, and he smiled at her as well. She grabbed onto his hand and picked herself up. "You two are in my pirate crew?"

Buckley and Sickland looked at each other. "Temporarily," Buckley said. "But the important thing now is setting you up to fight this guy. The ship is coming fast. We have to hurry to the sea! Come on!"

"But I can't swim," she told them.

Buckley smiled. "No swimming involved!"

* * *

Nine Wolf turned around a moment to see whether or not the old man even began to follow him. He could see the steamboat still far away. This was going to be a big problem for the stupid plan. He slowly turned his free hand to the small boat to pull it toward the deck. The steamboat was much smaller so it moved more quickly. He figured he would have to pull it for a minute or two to get it close. But before he could pull it all the way in, he would have to cause some more damage on foot to make the rescue more dramatic. He turned back in time to see the Marine crew members still on their feet on the deck prepare a counter attack. It looked like they had a cannon armed. Fooooooooooppp! The cannon shot at him with suprising accuracy. He forgot. He was well within range. As a matter of fact, it would have been pitiful if they couldn't hit him from here.

He released his pull on the small ship behind him and pulled his lantern shield toward him. It slid perfectly onto his arm. He then used it to smash the cannon ball clean out of the air. The Marines on the deck panicked as they witnessed him effortlessly stop their counter-attack. "Nice try! Drahahaha!" He laughed at them and released his hold on the galleon. It was moving so fast toward the deck he didn't have to propel it anymore. Or maybe a better description would be help it move anymore? He aimed his shield at the culprit who shot the cannon, and let his shield fly toward him with incredible speed. It hit the Marine so hard, his jaw cracked and he was launched painfully into the wall behind. "Drahahaha!"Nine Wolf laughed again. Bullseye.

He pulled his shield back toward him and looked to see back behind him. He could see the momentum carried the boat closer. He figured these Marines were so weak that he could go down and fight them all while comfortably pulling the ship closer to the deck...or what would be left of the deck. He turned back forward just in time to see the deck about 10 meters away.

* * *

"Are you sure this will work? I feel really, really weird and drained." Haven did look drained, but Buckley figured it was just the taste and nausea that came when someone drank sea water.

"Don't worry it's nothing just keep pace Haven! We have to get to th-"

! The giant galleon crashed into the deck at incredible speed and slid so far up the beach that the deck was built upon, that Buckley wondered if it would reach the barracks. He looked up through the billowing smoke and debris to see Nine Wolf hold up his arm to catch something and hop off the ship. He looked around and scattered miscellaneous troops that were still conscious all over the beach and debris. It seemed to Buckley like he had no agenda and was just randomly causing havoc. But it seemed odd. Why was he just waiting around in that tiny space, looking to the sea with an arm up and just generally sliding the occasional Marine. It looked a lot like he was waiting on something. Haven trudged up behind him, looking weakened and dragging the sword behind her. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Nine Wolf.

"OOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIII! WOLF! I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS! She yelled at the top of her lungs. Buckley and Sickland turned pale white and looked at her in disbelief. She looked so drained from drinking that sea water, and it looked like she used the last bit of her energy to yell at Nine Wolf. Buckley felt sweat trickle down his face as he worried about all the worst case scenarios. What if they were wrong about his ability? What if Haven couldn't fight in this condition? What if Nine Wolf decided to kill them all. His hands started to shake.

"Ehh? What did you just say to me boy?" Nine Wolf raised an eyebrow and let his arm drop. He turned and pointed his lantern shield at the threesome. Buckley felt like he was aiming directly at him.

"I said I'm going to beat your ass!" Haven slowly looked more confident. She stared into Nine Wolf's eyes. "I'll make you regret hurting my friend!"

"Your friend? What are you seven? And which one of these guys is your friends cause I kinda lost count! Drahahaha!"

"This one. His name is Bucket." She pointed directly at Buckley. "And him too I guess." She pointed at Sickland. They both turned paler, if possible.

"Drahahaha! You've got balls like shit! You know I can kill you?" Nine Wolf tried to intimidate her. Honestly, he didn't see the point in killing anyone. In death they were safe, but alive he could deliver max pain and wouldn't have anything on his conscious. But this girl was making things difficult for him.

"Heh…" She laughed and pulled on the sword she had in her hand. "I didn't lose all of it…..I still have more than enough of it to beat you!"

"What are you talking about?" Nine Wolf was impressed that she moved that giant sword in her hand so easily. But that was all the more reason to put her down to make his job a lot easier. He didn't plan on underestimating her. "Why don't you GET OUT OF MY FACE!" He opened his palm up towards her and clenched.

* * *

Author's Notes: Update tomorrow. I'll try to have it by Noon or so. As always review and critique!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: Chapter 6 up and ready! This chapter features an explanation on Nine Wolf's abilities, a short fight scene, and a look at Haven's powers. Thank you for reading as always!

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**CHAPTER 6: "THE AMAZING! THE FANTASTIC!"**

"How the hell do you make this thing float forward?" Steadcroak was having a difficult time working the lifeboat he was on. He had no idea how anything on it worked. He slapped a couple of knobs he saw near the port side of the little room he was in and pulled out his gun to shoot up the other side. He was a captain, not an egghead. He couldn't possibly hope to figure out this damn thing. Eventually he gave up and sat down cross legged on the wood floor. He figured that Nine Wolf would be able to pull his ship, so he didn't stress too much about it. Yes, he knew Nine Wolf could pull his ship from that distance all right, because Steadcroak finally deduced Nine Wolf's powers. It wasn't hard. They had known each other for 15 years, and Nine Wolf confirmed his suspicions by telling him he can "only lift certain things." That was, in a sense, not necessarily true. He can lift almost anything that wasn't attached to the earth, in certain conditions.

"Man." Steadcroak said to himself. "He can manipulate buoyant forces, density, and pressure. He can simulate something like a miniature tank around his target. He uses the water in the human body as the water for his fake tank and makes it "sink" in a way. So a bigger, denser body will get launched faster and higher than a smaller body, because it "sinks". The explosion noise comes because the target is splashed into the fake water at hyper speed then launched." Steadcroak noticed the boat started to move slowly along the wall and toward the beach. He stepped outside and looked into the water. As he suspected the water had a weird movement to it. Not like a ship was sailing through the ocean. More like a ship was sailing on TOP of the ocean. The boat was barely touching the water and Steadcroak understood further.

"So he's making the boat displace a set amount of water by changing the density of the ocean water. That's why he can move such giant ships. But it seems the "bigger is better" concept isn't working to well for him." Steadcroak silently reflected on all the times Nine Wolf used his powers. He had moved giant ships slowly, and small ships very quickly. He had moved small men slowly, and big men quickly. "Of course!" Steadcroak smiled to himself for being so smart. "Salt water is the devil fruit's natural enemy. No matter how much control he has over manipulating the properties of water, the salt in the water impairs his ability significantly. Since more salt will touch more of the big ship then the small ship, his movement is suckier! I'm a regular egghead after all!" Steadcroak smiled to himself and looked forward toward the beach as he visioned how much greater his life would be once he turned in Nine Wolf for a cool 43 million.

* * *

Nine Wolf raised his palm toward the stupid girl. He honestly didn't want to kill her, but his devil fruit "buoy buoy no mi" often had unexpected results. He would simply aim in a general area, and anything that had enough water surrounding it (or in it) could become subject to his rules. The first rule was that there had to be water on or in what he targeted. The next rule was, or restriction, was that the target could not be directly controlled, only the water. Finally, he would change the properties of the water to make a imaginary tank of sorts around the target to launch them, pin them down, or in some rare occasions, blow out their innards. He was afraid of the latter power occurring if he used his power on the girl. She was only a girl, and despite her great strength, girls were typically a lot lighter than males, so it made her harder to "sink" but a lot more susceptible to a explosive punishment.

"Umph…..!"The girl's eye twitched as she slowly felt the water in her body betray her. Then something miraculous happened. Rather than be launched (or exploded) she held on to her stomach and dug her heels into the sand. Nine Wolf stared wide eyed and his jaw dropped as his hand twitched and strained to "sink" her. The water in her body was a little different. Almost as though she had vast amounts of sea water inside of her. The two boys next to her were pushed back several feet, but were nonetheless still there, grinding their teeth. They were holding their stomachs to. This was impossible. Not only did they know that he controlled the water in the human body and centered its control near the stomach, they also knew that drinking dizzying amounts of salt water would cripple his control.

Nine Wolf felt a bead of sweat trickle down his brow as he strained harder and pushed the two boys further back to focus on the girl, who was still holding onto the massive sword and unbelievably started trekking toward him. He didn't have much time to think. This girl was different. Even if she diluted his power, and she was less dense, she still had to at least get pushed right? What the hell is she?

* * *

Buckley flew into Sickland's chest and bowled him over. They both scrambled to their knees and looked on as Haven started moving toward Nine Wolf. She was gripping the sword tightly and was using it's massive weight to dig into the ground. It was still dripping wet from when she used it to splash the two boys while they dipped their hands into the sea to drink the water. "Do you think he can control that sword, even a little bit? Salt slows him down and hurts his ability, but he can do something about it right?"Buckley turned to Sickland to inquire.

"I don't think so. He's been using that ability of his to push us back, but that sword hasn't left the sand once."

"Maybe he can move the sword, but Haven just has it dug really deep into the sand so he can't get it out? Look how hard she's holding that sword!"Buckley's eyes were far greater than Sickland's so he could see the veins appearing in her small hands as she held tightly.

"That's not it either. Her whole sword is soaked. He could just pick her up with the sword."

Buckley looked down and reflected on all the things Haven said. She said she could launch the locker too. She said she was special. And she managed to open a thick heavy barrel cleanly using a dull blade. At times the sword she held looked heavy for her, and at other times it looked light as a feather. She mentioned something one time about her "help."

"Maybe," said Buckley, "it's her ability? She told me once she could swim, but now she can't, so maybe it's some kind of devil fruit?"

Sickland smirked. "Your still green when it comes to devil fruits right? If she ate a devil fruit, and drank all that sea water, she wouldn't be able to use any of her abilities, or at the very least they would be as dwarfed as this guy's."

"Come to think of it, she drank only about half as much as we did, and she looked really tired after she drank some….I think she does have a devil fruit ability! And she has enough of it to resist all the power this guy's using!" Buckley stood up and started running toward Haven. He was sure of it! She had some kind of amazing power, and they just idiotically hurt her chances of winning! He had to do something!

* * *

Haven walked slowly toward Nine Wolf. Her insides kept trying to tug her but the numb pain inside of her kept pushing it away. It was hard for her to explain what was happening, but she still kept walking toward Nine Wolf. "I'm going to show your ass how to get kicked!"

"What the hell are you?" Nine Wolf yelled back at her. She felt the water in her tense, so she used her "help" to reduce the effect. This was not going to work. Ever since she drank that water she felt sick. And this guys power was not that hard for her to resist now that she thought about it. Come to think of it, if she just fought him one on one, she was sure she could've flattened him. She realized that she had to get the stuff she drank out of her quick.

"Wahahaha! Nine Wolf! I'm Haven The Amazing! The Fantastic! The one who will stomp your ass! You think you can hurt my friend and get away with it? She willed her body to charge forward. She ignored the water resisting and "sinking her" and used her power to boost her self forward at great speed.

"BALLISTIC FLEET!" She yelled as the air around her burst.

In the blink of an eye she was at Nine Wolf, already dragging her sword out of the ground to smash him. He parried the attack meekly with his lantern shield and used his water displacement to boost a jump back. She clicked her teeth. If she wasn't so handicapped, she would've got him in one shot. She jumped into the air after him and focused her boost into the sword. Her natural strength, though it was increasing, was not quite powerful enough for her to deliver speedy sword strikes, so she used her boost to lighten the load of the blade and speed it's attack speed tenfold. She came crashing down sword first into the sand as he evaded again. She felt the tugging sensation go away. He wasn't using his power anymore. He was too busy trying to defend himself to go on the offensive. He pointed his hand at her and slowly lifted it. This was her chance! Whenever he did that, she would get tugged! She lifted her sword with a boost and used the hole in the sword as a scope.

"BALLISTIC SWIFT!" She blew through the hole as a burst of sharp air flew through the hole, expanded, and crashed into Nine Wolf at incredible speed. He was sent flying into the ship and crashed through the floor into the lower deck. "GET BACK HERE! YOUR NOT DONE ALREADY!" She screamed at the ship loudly.

* * *

Nine Wolf's vision was blurred as he looked at the environment surrounding him. One second he was on a beach, the next he was in his meeting place with Steadcroak. Did she just send him through time. His vision came into focus as he slowly (and painfully) sat up to take a better look. No, she had just sent him through the ship. Her power was incredible! She managed to blitz him while he was controlling her body water, and she had some force around her sword resisting his control. She was smart. If she would have protected herself, he surely would have sent her flying. His lantern shield dripped as he looked down to check it's condition. As expected, it was in tip top shape. It should be considering how much he had strengthened it with the use of powers. This girl was a problem truly. He would have to take her out explosion or not

* * *

Author's Notes: Please review and critique!


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Chapter 7! This is going to finally close the Kaze saga! It's much longer than my other chapter's and it has a bit more detail and quite a bit of perspective changes. Thank you to my new reviewer, and my original one as well!

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**CHAPTER 7: "Good Luck Charm"**

Buckley stopped dead in his tracks. He just watched as Haven covered a decent distance in about a second. His eyes were good enough for him to follow her movement speed, but it looked like a blur. He stared on as he saw Nine Wolf, who's movement speed was much slower, just managed to get his shield up in time to save himself. He turned back to see what was taking Sickland so long. Sickland stumbled up the hill and collapsed for a moment, only to stand back up again. His ears were twitching again.

"I just heard something snap the air! What the heck is going on there?" Sickland held his head as he looked toward Buckley for an answer. As Buckley began to reply, a loud crash was heard. Buckley and Sickland turned toward the battlefield and heard Haven shouting threats and taunting Nine Wolf, or at least where Nine Wolf was. She sent him flying through the ship! "…..Amazing!" Sickland was at a loss for words. Buckley smiled. He thought that the sea water would slow her down, but apparently it didn't even make that much of a difference. The fact that she was weakened and still had enough power to completely dominate Nine Wolf was a morale boost. Several marines that were sent flying slowly got up in time to witness as the mysterious scrappy haired woman utterly destroyed Nine Wolf. Some gasped in shock, while others cheered loudly.

"CRUSH THAT SUMABITCH!"

"TEAR HIS ASS UP!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOTT!"

As the cheers increased Buckley felt proud in Haven and her abilities. She was almost like a little sister to him now….albeit one that can crush him. As he looked on he suddenly remembered seeing Steadcroak earlier on the same ship as Nine Wolf. He wondered where Steadcroak could have gone.

"Hey Sickland," Buckley turned to his new friend.

"Yea. She's something else. But what about Captain Steadcroak?" Buckley's eyebrow twitched. He was about to talk to him about Steadcroak. He didn't appreciate him trying to be more important.

"I was just about to talk about that….I wonder where he went? I can't imagine him still being in that galleon unless he got crushed or hurt or something. I think he got off on the steamboat that's tied to it. Why was he with Nine Wolf in the first place?"

"I don't know, but let's help Haven beat this guy first." There he goes again trying to be important-sounding.

* * *

Nine Wolf looked up to the hole he was just smashed through. He winced as he remembered how painful it was. She hit him head on with some kind of sharp blast. Rather than a large force pushing him, it seemed to drill into him and cut him slightly. The force wouldn't let up on him until he landed. But Nine Wolf noticed something. When she locked herself into fire that blast at him, the force pushed her back. Also when she did that flying sword dive, she couldn't change direction. If it were a regular jump and he leapt back to get away, she could've at least twisted her body to attempt to strike at him. No, her body was completely erect as she zoomed forward. He came to the conclusion that this was not her natural speed. She had a devil fruit that was capable of accelerating the air and objects around her to extreme speeds. That solved several mysteries in his head, the biggest one being the nullification of his ability. She must have increased the air speed in her sword so quickly that it heated, creating a gas like effect of swords. He could't do much damage with water if it wasn't in it's liquid form.

"COME OUT CHICKEN!" He could hear the girl yelling down at him. She was an idiot if she thought he would rush out to fight an opponent that was essentially immune to his principal attacks. He slowly pulled his arm up in the direction of Steadcroak. This would take about 2 minutes. He then aimed his lantern shield up toward the insane girl and fired.

* * *

"WAHAHAHA! YES! I AM THE GREAT HAVEN!" Haven was soaking up all the glory. Everyone was cheering for her and she felt like she was the coolest person ever. She turned back down to the hole she created and pulled her sword onto her shoulder. "COME OUT CHICKEN!" She smirked widely and leaned in for a better look. Suddenly the weird shield thing flew out quickly at her. She slid the sword off of her shoulder to block the shield. It smashed hard into her sword, which carried it's momentum to her face. Luckily, it was a flat side, but nonetheless the smack sent her flying toward a wall. She focused the air near her back to explode and she shot back down to the spot she was initially, albeit with a softened and red face. "YOWCH!" She yelled loudly.

"WATCH OUT HAVEN!" She heard Buckley scream at her.

The shield circled around and came flying back to her quickly. She turned in time to see it coming and she ducked this time rather than risking her face being hit again. Bad idea. The shield curved and smashed along her shoulder before skimming in the sand and flying back into the air. She stood to her feet as the shield came at her again. This was crazy! How did he know he was aiming at her? She burst backwards to evade the shield this time and felt a small tingle in her stomach. He must be using his weird water thing to target her! She had to get this sea water out of her quick so she could go all out on this guy. She felt herself slowing down. She was so tired already, which was way too early for her.

She tightened her grip and ran towards the hole she created. "Wait Haven!" She heard someone yell behind her. She jumped high into the air and boosted forward to catch Nine Wolf off guard. As she passed through, she caught a sight of sea water beneath her, but it was too late for her to slow down. She fell into the water and felt her powers leave her, and her body weakened considerably. It was maybe 4 feet of water, but it was enough to drown her, as she dove in headfirst. Her vision blackened as she felt her body succumb to the ocean.

* * *

"Oh no!" Buckley ran toward the hole she jumped into. He was too late to stop her. She idiotically jumped into an unknown environment where a obvious trap was waiting for her. Nine Wolf used his shield to get her attention as if to say "I'm alive down here, you can't fight my shield, so come fight me head on!" He correctly assumed that she would jump down there full speed, and he probably had some trick to take her out with. Buckley stopped short of the hole and looked down. He could see a hole going all the way down to the beach's edge. Waves were crashing through a hole in the ship and Haven was lying submerged in shallow water. It was as he feared. She DID have a devil fruit, and Nine Wolf used her weakness to his advantage.

"Cripes!" Sickland ran up and looked down into the hole as well. "We have to get her out of the water! One of us will distract Nine Wolf while the other saves her! Come on!" Without missing a beat, Sickland jumped into the hole and landed on the edge of the floor directly beneath. Buckley couldn't believe his courage and froze up as he continued to stare down scared. Haven was WAYYY down at the bottom. The fall was terrifying, and since Sickland landed on the closest floor, it was safe to assume that Sickland planned on being the distraction. That meaned Buckley had to dive all the way to the bottom to save her. He drew in a breath and dove down when suddenly he realized that he was jumping into shallow water.

* * *

"WAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Nine Wolf heard the man scream and watched as his body flew past, presumably to save the girl. He laughed knowing that the water beneath was fairly shallow. Right now he had some hero playing distraction in front of him….well trying to be a distraction. Nine Wolf sighed and pulled Steadcroak's ship a bit further. He actually didn't plan to kill the girl. Just disable her until he could get Steadcroak to "beat him" so he could make his hasty retreat. "Are you supposed to be the sacrifice? You look a bit too unarmed for that." The man in front of him nervously shook as he put his dukes up.

"I'm not gonna let you do what you want!" The boy screamed at him and charged forward. Nine Wolf pulled with his free hand to grab his shield. Once he did, he held it up and smacked the boy in the face softly. Well, sorta softly. Enough to take him down in one clean hit. He didn't wanna risk "sinking" him in the ship as he could probably get impaled on some broken wood. No casualties and all that. He slowly walked over to the edge and looked down as he pointed his hand up at the surface. Without looking, he "sunk" everyone above and stared at the other man's progress with the girl. He looked shaken, but he dragged the girl onto the sand and under his field of view. Nine Wolf wondered whether or not he should go down and knock them both out but decided against it, as the old man would be here any second to beat him. He leaped back to the top of the smashed ship and looked toward the ocean. The old man's ship was finally at shore and he had accidentally pulled it up more than he needed to.

Nine Wolf looked around and saw that there were enough conscious Marines. "OH NO! NOT THE LEGENDARY CAPTAIN STEADCROAK!" He yelled as he pointed at the awkwardly placed ship. As expected, the Marines looked up with the first glimmer of hope they had left.

"IT'S STEADCROAK!"

"CAPTAIN STEADCROAK! HELP US!"

Nine Wolf shook his head at how pathetic these Marines were. "The craziest idiots," he muttered to himself as he pictured the face of the man that slyly betrayed them." Steadcroak stumbled out the ship dripping wet and looked up to Nine Wolf.

"YOU! YOU CULPRIT! YOU FIEND! I BEAT YOU ONCE AND YOU MANAGED TO ESCAPE AND HURT MY PRECIOUS RECRUITS, BUT NOW YOU SHALL PAY! Steadcroak yelled at him while drawing his gun. Nine Wolf blinked as he mentally went through what the man told him earlier. He could've sworn he was just supposed to scare him off or, at the most, punch him in the face. The way Steadcroak was acting, it was almost like he would actually shoot him.

"What are you talking about old man?"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH SCUM!" Steadcroak fired a bullet at Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf threw up his shield to deflect it. This was unbelievable! The old man actually took a shot at him! They had known each other for 15 years! They were on the same crew at some point! And they even concocted this stupid scheme together! Yet this old man just blatantly betrayed him! Nine Wolf raised his palm quickly and clenched to "sink" Steadcroak. Steadcroak lifted off of the ground by about 4 inches, but landed back safely. He had the same weight to him as the Marines from earlier that drank the salt water. Nine Wolf realized he made a slip up earlier when he was talking on the ship with Steadcroak, and now Steadcroak was using his new knowledge to fight him. Nine Wolf knew that the old man had very good basic combat skills. So much so that just throwing the shield wouldn't easily beat him.

"Steadcroak, you useless traitor! I'll rip you apart for this! I thought we had a deal!"

"Heroes don't make deals with scum! Prepare to be completel-DESTROYED!" The Marines cheered as Steadcroak yelled. This was trouble.

* * *

Sickland's ear twitched. He heard up above Steadcroak's arrival, and threats to Nine Wolf. He slowly got up and walked to the hole going through the entire ship. He saw Buckley walk from under a floor to look up.

"What's going on up there? You okay?" Buckley shouted up to him.

"I'm fine! A little hurt but fine! Is she okay?"

"Yeah, but we need a way back up!"

"Why don't you just take the stairs like you did to get down there!" Sickland heard a smack like a face palm and heard Buckley shout back, "alrite! It'll be awhile I have to make sure all this water gets out of her! She's the only one that can fight Nine Wolf and carry her sword up there!" Sickland's ears twitched again.

"I don't think she has to fight Nine Wolf anymore!" Sickland yelled back. Buckley raised an eyebrow.

"Wha….?"

* * *

"That's such a desperate story it's funn-HILARIOUS!" Steadcroak raised his arms over his head and laughed at Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf clenched his teeth and looked around at all the Marines smirking. "His weakness is sea water! Drink some or splash in it and he's nearly powerless!"

Nine Wolf knew it was useless. He just told his story to the surrounding Marines in a bid to sway opinion against Steadcroak. Unfortunately, it didn't help much that Steadcroak was their savior, while he served as a harbinger of destruction.

"Steadcroak, your gonna pay for this. Your worst than a pirate." The surrounding Marines laughed at Nine Wolf's words and taunted him, as groups of them returned, completely covered in sea water. These idiots didn't realize that he could still control sea water a little. He tried to "sink" a close Marine and managed to send him flying back about 6 or 7 feet. The Marine landed on his feet and walked back slowly, smiling.

"Looks like we're about to get to Ten Wolf! Or does it end with you?" Steadcroak scratched his beard and went out of his way to put on a thinking face to amuse his troops. This was bad. He was fighting an army of pissed Marine peons. And they had a captain with them, one that was strong enough to probably fight equally with Nine Wolf in a hand to hand situation. "I reckon if we kill you, that'll be it for the Wolf line! This will put me on the map! Come on guys let-BEAT IMMMMM!" The Marines charged as Nine Wolf put up his shield.

* * *

"I think Steadcroak sold us out!" Sickland yelled down to Buckley. Buckley looked up confused. "Nine Wolf just told everyone up top how he and Steadcroak orchestrated all this," he continued. "It makes sense with all the things we've noticed. Steadcroak being on the ship with him. Nine Wolf not killing any one or having any other reason to be here. Steadcroak being close to a promotion. He betrayed us, and now he's betrayed Nine Wolf!"

Buckley frowned and answered, "well if he betrayed him, he probably has an idea how to beat him! We're saved! We don't have to worry about being killed anymore!"

Sickland scratched his head. That was true. But at the same time he thought about the recent events that just happened. "Nine Wolf could have easily killed all of us! But he didn't! He just wanted to do his side of the deal and leave! Nine Wolf is a pretty honorable pirate, but Steadcroak's a pretty evil good guy!"

Buckley nodded his head as if understanding and turned suddenly. It looked to Sickland like he was looking toward a now awake Haven.

"Is she awake?" Sickland yelled down.

"I've been up for a little while!" Haven yelled up. "Is it true? Nine Wolf was betrayed? By that old guy everyone's talking about? Steadcock?" Buckley snickered at the nickname. That was original.

"Yeah, he did whats expected from a pirate, but he didn't really hurt anybody! I hate to think that he got set up to wreck us by that old guy all for the sake of his promotion!"

Haven turned to Buckley. "How do you feel Bucket?"

"It kind of hurts to have our captain be such a traitor to everybody. A lot of recruits here look up to him and he just used us all! How is that justice?" Buckley looked embarrassed at his lax attitude about the betrayal earlier.

Haven looked deep into his eyes. They were flickering and emotional, almost as if this betrayal had a giant effect on him. It looked like his feelings were hurt.

"Ok then. I've made up my mind!" Haven grabbed her sword and spit one more mouthful of sea water out. Buckley noted that she had no manners but nevertheless listened to see what she made her mind up about. She turned to him. "Grab onto me."

"Wha….?"

"Grab me somewhere."

"Uh…ok…" Buckley awkwardly walked in front of her and reached around to grip her back tightly, avoiding wrapping her arms up. She pointed her sword up and yelled "BALLISTIC STEAM!" The air around her sword heated up to the point that it felt as though it were boiling. Slowly steam leaked from it and the air around it flew quickly to the ground and propelled them upward at incredible speed. Buckley bit his tongue as the wind smacked in the face. They crashed through the top of the ship and fell down rapidly to the beach. He tightened his grip as he looked at the height of the descent. They landed hard on a cluster of Marines that were running forward to something. Haven got up quickly.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU JERKS IS STEADCOCK?"

* * *

Nine Wolf braced himself for the frontal assault, when he was suddenly startled by an explosive crash from the ship! Something was flying in the air and left steam behind as it ascended. Then suddenly it came crashing down on a group of soldiers preparing to attack him. What a stroke of luck. The girl from earlier stood up on top of the fallen Marines (including her friend from earlier) and yelled, "WHICH ONE OF YOU JERKS IS STEADCOCK?" She stole his joke. Somehow.

Steadcroak looked at the girl and once again had to resist the urge to laugh. "My name is Steadcroak! Steadcroak! Who the hell are you? You better get out of here!"

"NO! YOUR A STUPID TRAITOR THAT SOLD EVERYONE OUT FOR YOURSELF! YOUR SELFISH AND I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR FACE IN!" The Marines beneath her squirmed under the words of their temporary hero. It turns out she was a enemy after all! Popular opinion turned against her.

"She's in cahoots with Nine Wolf!"

"She's evil"

"Captain watch out she's fast!"

The girl stomped hard on the Marines (including her friend) and yelled, "SHUT UP! I NEVER SAID I WAS A HERO! I SAID I WAS HAVEN THE GREAT! THE AMAZING! REMEMBER THAT NAME!" She smiled and hopped off the dog pile toward Steadcroak. "Your Steadcock? Haven The Great will now beat you up!"

The old man laughed. "You can stop that now. If your really a notorious pirate, the media has either given you the nickname, or give you one themselves! Either way it goes, you've got yourself a bounty now! Someone get on a den den mushi (Snail phone) and inform them that we have Nine Wolf and his secret crew surrounded! Be sure to tell them how great I am, and what the culprits look like!" Steadcroak turned to look at a Marine run to the hallway.

The Haven girl smirked. "Don't forget Bucket! He's my friend too and he's going to the top with me!" Steadcroak looked at him on top of the dog pile and smiled.

"Seems you were a traitor all along Buckwheat. I guess it's no harm to my reputation if you die here too!" Steadcroak shot at the Haven girl as she swung her sword to deflect the bullet. While she did that he slipped out his second gun and shot toward the Bucket guy.

Nine Wolf used his ability to pull the kid out of the way, and instead another Marine was shot in the leg. It was hard since he had all that salt water still in him, and he was sure he couldn't pull the kid in time, but some object on him gave him more leverage to pull with. He had to save this kid. The girl would be a valuable ally for his escape, and he needed to get in good with her.

"You saved me," the Bucket kid said as he looked up to him. "Thank you!"

"Drahahaha, don't get comfortable! Stay alert! If your really part of her pirate crew you better shape up!" Nine Wolf liked these kids.

* * *

Sickland finally made it to the top of the slightly inverted ship. He saw Buckley at Nine Wolf's feet being laughed at so he assumed the worst. He charged at Nine Wolf a second time. Again, and in a comical fashion, Nine Wolf hit him upside his head with the shield.

"Oi, you. Calm down I'm on your side." Nine Wolf looked down to him as he said this. Sickland looked over to Buckley to confirm it was true. Great. He formed alliances with two pirates in one day. He knew he should have went to law school. He spotted Haven in a crowd of Marines swiftly smashing her way through them. She was wielding her sword like a hammer and was taking out everyone close to her. Steadcroak, a supposed expert fighter, was frantically trying to push his fellow Marines in her way as she kept rushing toward him. Right before his eyes, every single Marine he had trained with (and been ridiculed by) was being absolutely trounced. He could hear bursts of air as she swung the sword, and he could see the air split. It was like she was accelerating her attacks by using air and pressure. It was almost like ballistics.

"She's so powerful! Wow..." Sickland's voice trailed off.

"Drahahaha! She's quick to switch sides. A while ago they were praising her while she was attacking me! Now she's ripping them apart while I laugh about it!" Sickland didn't exactly trust Nine Wolf all the way, but it was probably safer to stay near him.

"He's a good guy. Well, at least more than Steadcroak. He saved me," Buckley said to calm Sickland. "We can trust him a little at least. Didn't you say yourself he could have killed us?" Buckley was right. Sickland relaxed and watched on as their temporary "captain" worked her way finally to Steadcroak. A satisfying whack shook the ground slightly, as Steadcroak dropped facefirst into the beach.

* * *

** At a certain Marine HQ**

"Hello?" A high ranking marine operator answered the den den mushi.

"Yes, this is Recruit Stanton at Marine Shipyard Kaze! We've had an attack!"

"An attack?"

"Yes, Nine Wolf of West Blue attacked our base! He disabled all 78 of the soldiers here!"

"Aren't you there?"

"Uh...yes?"

"Then he didn't disable everyone." The operator smirked. He was having another winning conversation.

"...I just looked outside! Nine Wolf has a crew with him!"

The operator frowned. "It's well known he has no crew!"

"I see them now! There are two Marine recruits that are with him! They must have infiltrated us! There names are "Buckley" and "Sickland!" Buckley goes by Bucket something! The final member is some girl with a giant sword! She's really powerful and she keeps yelling stuff about ballistics when she attacks! They just took down Captain Steadcroak!"

The operator sat up in his seat. This was bad. If Nine Wolf got a crew, he would probably be readying to head to Grand Line, or he would become a bigger threat for the Blues. "Can you give a description of their appearances? A picture maybe? Who's the strongest members of his crew?"

"Well when the girl saved us, we took a picture of her! And we have the two Marine guys pictures on file! The girl is a bigger threat than Nine Wolf! The captain stopped Nine Wolf but she beat the captain using force!"

"Send her picture right away and do what you can to save the fallen. What was her name again?"

"The Amazing Ballistic...or Fantastic Ballistic or something"

"...roger"

* * *

Haven pulled her sword off the top of Steadcroak's head and let it rest on her shoulder. "Serves you right," she said. Steadcroak moaned from his disabled position. He struggled to lift his head.

"Y-Y-ou...all...are...in a lot...of trou-DEAD!...your...all dead..!" Steadcroak struggled with every word. Haven crouched down to him.

"Your gonna get hit again if you say something else." He immediately swallowed and planted his face in the sand. Nine Wolf looked disappointed that she didn't kill him. She turned to Nine Wolf. "I still have to kick your ass. You hurt Bucket!" Nine Wolf smiled as Buckley started to wave his hands.

"No, that's okay, he didn't hurt me or anything. I'm past that." Buckley walked over to her and hugged her. "Thank you for helping me out so much!" She smiled and forgot about the ass kicking that Nine Wolf had coming. Nine Wolf walked to Steadcroak.

"This guy knows all about my weakness and so do all of these troops. I guess I gotta either take em all out or get some new tricks." As grimly as he said this, it seemed like he was leaning toward the former. Sickland walked over to Nine Wolf to rest an arm on his shoulder.

"There's no point. We know your weakness too, so you would have to take us all out as well, and I'm sure a Marine has already informed HQ all about you. You want to have the death of a captain on your hands?" Sickland's words made sense. Nine Wolf sneered and looked toward the shoreline to see if there was a ship he could hijack. He started walking off slowly.

"Hey!" Haven called after Nine Wolf. He turned to look at her. "Why don't you join my pirate crew? Your strong right? And now the Marines are after you around here. Follow us to Grand Line!"

"US?" The two Marines screamed in unison. Nine Wolf looked down. He barely knew this girl, the former Wolves that went to Grand Line died, and the Marines were surely going to set up a garrison in Grand Line if what the one kid said about them calling HQ was true.

"It would be absolutely stupid for me to go to Grand Line. I don't have a death wish unlike the rest of you. But as thanks I'll help you guys escape from here. I'm sure your crew is wanted now." He smiled at Haven. Her eyes lit up as he said "her crew." Buckley and Sickland frowned.

"Come on. We'll steal a ship and sail to West Blue. It's close and we can hide from the Marines there. From there, you can do whatever you want." Nine Wolf walked to a caravel as he walked.

The group followed him as he stopped in front of a partially coated caravel. "This is a shoddy job, but it'll have to do. These sucky marines haven't done good since I was a shipwright. Girl. Use that force thing of yours to push this into the ocean. I'll handle it from there." Haven pouted at him.

"Don't tell the captain what to do without being nice!" She stared at Nine Wolf until he rolled his eyes and said "please." She placed her hands on the back and transferred pressure to move the ship forward to the ocean. After everyone boarded, the ship began to move as Nine Wolf pointed his palm slightly down and forward.

"Let down the sails!" Nine Wolf yelled. "I won't be doing this the whole time, we have to capitalize on this wind direction, we can move at a steady pace!" Haven fumed at him again, considering she wanted to be the captain. As the boat picked up speed, Nine Wolf walked over to Buckley.

"You. Bucket. Was there something on you earlier? When I pulled you way from that bullet something helped me. It's probably what saved your life, and I want you to use it as a good luck charm. You'd be surprised how far luck will get ya kid."

Buckley thought to himself what he could have possibly been carrying. He couldn't think of anything.

"I'm not sure, but I can tell you one thing...I'm the guy that did the shoddy job..heh," Buckley laughed at himself as he said this to Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf smiled and turned to walk away.

"Drahahaha! Nothing personal! And make sure you find out what that good luck charm is!"

Buckley smiled and looked at the sea as Haven approached him. Sickland was curled in a ball near the edge silently cursing his luck.

"Oi! Bucket! Did you remember the flag? It's our flag that unifies us in the spirit of victory! Tell me you didn't forget it!"

Something in Buckley's head clicked as he reached down and slowly pulled up his shirt.

"Wahahahaha! There it is! The flag! We still need a name for our crew!" She scratched her head and looked at him for his opinion.

"...What about the Brave Luck Pirates?" Buckley meekly suggested as her eyes lit up.

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA! HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT NAME?"

Buckley smiled as he looked down. "A mix of my good luck charm, and the kind of feeling it gave me."

* * *

Author's Notes: Review and critique. Now that I think about it, this would actually be a good ending, but nonetheless I shall continue with the daily updates!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: Chapter 8! Let's cut away from the Brave Luck pirates to see a new developing story in the Grand Line shall we?

* * *

**At Marine Base Buena Vista somewhere in the Grand Line**

"Are all in attendance aware of the consequences of divulging any of the following information that is about to be presented to you?" The spiky orange-haired youth asked. Because of his appearance, he was often mistaken for a mere child, but his booming speaking voice changed the minds of doubters in his leadership.

"An immediate demotion for a minor infraction, and in serious cases, elimination. Intelligence can never be leaked to outside sources through any means, or in any situation. We all understand that," A tall Marine answered for the group of 11 (12 if you include the "mere child"). All in attendance were cloaked in white hood with a Navy jacket.

"Good. The I Dodici Sovrani are all in perfect attendance and understand the gravity of the situation. We have a crisis occurring in Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line for you, Barker. I do know you haven't been back there for quite a while. A Yonko has taken it upon himself to enter and capture a vital Marine outpost. This was about 7 days ago, and we got word 4 days ago." The orange haired youth looked around to see the opinions on the faces of the Sovrani. Reactions were mixed, from shock and fear to the newer weaker members, to indifference to vets such as Barker.

"So? Marine outposts are easy to set up, and since it's in the weak Paradise we should have no problem expediting troops to see to the creation and maintenance of a new one!" Barker was upset that he had to waste his time hearing of such a petty matter. While it was true that a Yonko slipping to Paradise was a eye opener, the activities the Yonko since engaged in were of little matter. If he was leaving for Paradise to start some crazy plan, that meant he was too weak to attempt it in The New World. All they had to do was send one or two members to take him out.

The youth stared at Barker and continued. "I said this outpost was vital for a reason. The outpost in question is Little Sung Save. It has the largest deposit of Sea Stone that we've ever encountered. This is probably due to all the terraformation and the frequent weather changes in the region. This is little known information outside of the top Marines, and most of the miners believe that they are mining some precious stone. For him to find this out means that an Admiral or one of the Sovrani have informed him." The group laughed (some more nervously than others) and Barker spoke everyone's thoughts.

"So your telling me this meeting is to find out the rat? I knew this was too little of a thing. That outpost don't mean shit. We have several outposts that yield just a little less stone, and we have an abundance of sea stone anyway. Vital my ass!" Barker was furious. The Sovrani echoed his words and seemed to be in agreement on the matter. Another one, a older woman this time, spoke.

"I've noticed a conspicuous lack of Admirals. This meeting was supposed to serve the purpose of locating a incompetent or traitorous Marine. Do you believe only the Sovrani could do this? You are one of us after all, aren't you Gambi Lafitte?" The woman posed the serious question to the youth now known as Lafitte.

Lafitte slowly closed his eyes and cursed his superiors. Since the I Dodici Sovrani were former pirates turned Marines, they often were considered untrustworthy. Trustworthy or not, one trait that definitely carried on in their hearts were anger towards those they felt opposed them. Lafitte was chosen to be the speaker of the Sovrani because he was the most reformed and the only one on good terms with the higher-ups. But he warned the Fleet Admiral that if he had to resort to this stupid tactic to find the traitor, the government would be met with hostility. He opened his eyes. "Think before you speak. I could have easily just said that the Sovrani are suspected and left it at that, but I told you all that the Admirals are suspected as well. They are of a different branch of the Marines, so they will be questioned accordingly, separate from this one."

Barker frowned. "You've got a lot of nerve speaking to us like we're idiots Bambi (this drew a snicker or two). You didn't answer either question. Do YOU think only the Sovrani could have done this? Your one of us right? You've been out of the sea for a long time. Your usually cradling the Fleet Admiral's balls nowadays, trying to go to their, "absolute justice." Makes me sick."

"I know that it was one of the Sovrani. I can assure you of that. The Admirals have absolutely no gain from all of this, and surely they knew they would be suspected. But one of you thought that the Marines would not notice something that just seemed like a simple pirate attack. And yes I'm one of the I Dodici Sovrani, but I have no intentions on going down with one of you." Lafitte was stern despite his child-like appearance, a side effect of his devil fruit.

"SuHAHAHAHAHA! You really have gone to justice eh? Not go down with us? You idiot if one of us turns out to be a traitor that's gonna look bad for you either way! Why the hell would any of us benefit from sending that pussy down here? You think we wouldn't be smart enough to know we would be suspected?"Barker's mood was perking up.

Lafitte smirked at Barker. "Regardless of how you feel, nearly all of you are suspects, and one of you definitely did this. The Yonko in question is Maro, the former Six Wolf. He abandoned his former name some time back after he acquired his devil fruit, and became a Yonko in your absence Barker." Barker snarled. "It's for this reason alone Barker that you are the only member in the Sovrani that is not a suspect. Your personality traits and your history with Maro make it highly unlikely you would help him, and that he would cooperate with you."

Barker's face twisted angrily. "Maro huh? I still call him Six Wolf. I hate to think that the punk that took my old spot would be such a pain."

"What is Maro's objective? I understand that his attack takes a backdrop to finding out who would inform him, but I want to know why he would go so far for Sea Stone, especially considering the fact that numerous members of his crew are devil fruit users?" A young woman's voice asked this question to Lafitte. "And even if he did want Sea Stone, why not attack a deposit in the New World, with less Marine interference?"

"Most likely to get our attention….or because there is something else at Little Sung Save that he wants. It is after all stationed on the island Big Sung Save. There are no reports of him taking or demanding any Sea Stone. He merely attacked and holds the facility as we speak. His activity on the island though is still a mystery. He could probably be looking for something else, but it's a serious threat that he is using the outpost as a base for his operations. Now that you've been informed that your all suspects, we can attempt to save face and capture Six Wolf." Lafitte spoke in his typical important tone.

"I'll go. I am curious about this whole affair," the young woman spoke up again. Lafitte didn't really recognize her, which meant she was the new member of the I Dodici Sovrani. She had quite a ways to go to work up the ranks, but she seemed competent enough to handle the situation. And since she was new, it was less likely that she was the one that leaked info to Maro.

"Very well then. Your assigned to handling this situation. A crew of competent Marines will be provided for you. What is your name again?" Lafitte questioned her.

"Layli of the Red Dusk. A crew is not necessary, though I thank you." She smiled under hood and bowed.

Barker turned to her. "Watch out for anyone running interference on your first job. If he's in Grand Line, chances are he might meet up with that Nine Wolf character. They're from the same shit, and word is Nine Wolf has found himself a crew to go to Grand Line with. He may try to rendezvous with Six Wolf." The group all stared at Barker as he said this. "What?"

"What? Why didn't you say that earlier? Maro must be trying to rendezvous with Nine Wolf! We've solved a bit of this mystery already. Layli, you are to head out immediately with a small change of plans. The crew that was to go with you will escort you to Big Sung Save. They will then take off to Nine Wolf's last known whereabouts while you handle the situation there. Will try to smash both of these threats in one go."

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"We're accompanying one of the I Dodici Sovrani to Big Sung Save?" The Marine Commodore was upset with this news. He didn't like his men working with a former pirate to catch other pirates. The only one of the Sovrani that he trusted a little was Lafitte.

Lafitte smiled and continued, "yes. I know it may not be the one thing in the world you don't want to do, but we exist to aid the Marines. I'm reformed myself, and I will do whatever is necessary to see to it that justice is upheld. The member you are accompanying is as good as I am and holds many of the same principles. You merely drop her off at Big Sung Save, and continue to apprehend Nine Wolf and his crew.

The commodore relaxed a bit and then asked, "do we have their bounties to identify them with?"

Lafitte handed him an assortment of rolled parchments to look through. The commodore started flipping through them casually glancing at the petty amounts, as he wondered why this crew was such a high profile one. The only bounty that jumped out at him was Nine Wolf's.

"Nine Wolf's bounty has gone up to 70 million? Y'all must have increased it on account of that guy being in cahoots with Yonko Maro. The Bullet Ballistic? That's kinda corny but his….wait is that a girl?…..her bounty is 35 million. And Timothy Sickland the Wanderer? 10 million. That's a small crew."

"Oh, yeah I forgot this one." Lafitte handed the commodore one more parchment.

"The Eagle Eye, Bucket? 20 Million?"

"Yeah. Apparently when he infiltrated the Marine shipyard Kaze posing as a recruit, he posted high marks in all of the sight related tests, and had amazing feats to his name. Vice Admiral Gass recommended him, saying he had excellent shipwright skills, but he was reported as doing poorly in that regard."

"I meant how did he get the Bucket part?"

"I don't know…maybe he…washes….out? Or he's open….I don't know! Just be prepared to leave when Layli arrives. If this ship leaves in the next 2 hours, your ETA will be 3 days. Good luck." With that, Lafitte turned his back and walked away.

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Author's Notes: As always, read and critique! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: Another Chapter uploaded for your reading pleasure. I'm not slowing down on my update speed, just micro managing and making last minute touches

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The Brave Luck Pirate emblem was a true work of art. Buckley was sure of it, since he spent the better part of two days designing it, and placing it on the sails, the flag, and wherever Haven whined for him to draw it. She was lucky the caravel had so much spare paint lying around. The jolly roger skull was replaced with the smiley reminiscent of the Heart Pirates. Instead of the jutting lines that looked like upper-case T's, there were instead swirls that made it look as though the flag were spinning or being sucked into itself. The crossbones were instead highly detailed swords clashing, with action lines and the image slightly blurred to represent Haven's ballistic related abilities. As Buckley admired his work, he could hear a squabble start, with the usual front liners, Nine Wolf and Haven.

"LAND HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU'VE YELLED LAND HO A THOUSAND TIMES! WE ARE NOT AT OUR DESTINATION YET!" Nine Wolf wasted no time cutting off Haven. She was an aggravating crewmate.

"BUT YOU SAY LAND HO WHEN YOU SEE LAND STUPID!" Haven countered. She was really re-considering inviting Nine Wolf to her crew. He had no fun.

"THAT'S ONLY WHEN IT'S A PLACE YOUR GONNA LAND STUPID! YOUR NOT EVEN THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING!"

Buckley looked down from his position on the crows nest. Nine Wolf was frustrated with Haven's frequent outbursts, calling her annoying and such. Ironically, Nine Wolf himself was as annoying as Haven with his loud screams at her. During the 3 days they were sailing on the ship the ragtag crew managed to get along well, and adopted habits to past the time. Sickland, after getting past his depression and regrets would often go to the armory at the bottom of the vessel. The caravel was an intelligence ship that was almost ready to be sent off (before it was hi-jacked), so there were sophisticated top-of-the-line weapons organized neatly in the armory. Nine Wolf would usually sit patiently near the front and direct the others whenever a new development raised or whenever they needed to change directions. Haven would spend most of her time trying to draw a jolly roger and talking with Buckley, who spent most of the time in the crows nest spotting. Of course there were the occasional fights, usually between Nine Wolf's patience, and Haven's pride. Buckley called down to them in an effort to quench the fire.

"Oi! You two it's not that serious! Haven just thought it was our stop, and Nine Wolf would rather have it that you don't yell so often and so loudly Haven!" Nine Wolf grunted and walked away after hearing Buckley's words. Haven looked up to see Buckley and jumped up to where he was. It was an astonishing feat, and it always left Buckley in slight awe at seeing a human being jump so high.

"Wahahaha! First Mate Bucket that's a fine pirate outfit! Now you really do look like a member of the finest crew ever!" Haven spoke in a rather excited, loud tone at all times. Buckley looked downed again at his attire. Because his Marine outfit was thoroughly tattered and ripped, he dressed himself in the casual clothes onboard the caravel. He wore a short-sleeved white shirt that was tucked into a red sash at his waist. Diagonally across his front was a chest holster, with no firearm in it. He wore black pants that were slightly baggy at the ankles, but he compensated for this by tucking them into his boots. He also had a sleeve on his right arm that he used to conceal a previous (and regrettable) tattoo from the past. With the headband tied around his head partially holding his spiked messy black hair at bay, he truly did resemble a pirate.

"Uh….thanks. Your outfit is pretty cool too." Haven changed from her previous outfit to a entirely different garb. She wore a Marine's cap backward on her head with the Brave Luck jolly roger emblazoned on it (courtesy of Buckley, part-time artist). The hat let the front of her fair slightly fall over her brown eyes. In the back, her hair still reached down her neck. She had a over-sized Marine Captain cloak slung around her shoulders and tied to look like a makeshift cape. She also wore a small, purple vest that came to about her hips, and a short top under the vest that covered her cleavage. She had on black breeches that, like Buckley's, were tucked into her boots. He thought that she copied him because of that. He thought for a moment. "And my name is Buckley."

"I've already told you. I like Bucket more. Bucket." Haven did her creepy, awkward smile again, intimidating Buckley into compiling with her wishes.

A door opened from the lower deck, and Sickland walked through onto the surface in his cloak. He was still in his Marine garb, with some changes. After he got past his "problems," he embraced the pirate lifestyle. He had Buckley place the Brave Luck jolly roger wherever there was any Marine symbol. He also had a cape until Haven called him a copy cat, so he settled for the hoodless green cloak. With his good looking face (Buckley hated to admit it, but Sickland was good looking guy) and his now messy hair, he looked like a evil Robin Hood, minus the hat. Sickland had always been something of a gifted handyman, but now he was a regular grease monkey. He was carrying a large bag on his back.

"Captain Haven! I got some new stuff!" Sickland called out, eager to show off his work to his captain. Haven leaped out the crow's best after waving to Buckley and ran to Sickland.

"What do you have? Is it cool?" Haven was more excited than usual.

"I found a crossbow down there! But I widened the slot and tied rope around the handle to make a awesome knife harpoon! Look it's retractable. Probably." Buckley shook his head. Even if that thing did shoot how was he going to pull it back? Sickland continued, "look it's bolt action! To retract it, we just use this automatic reel I made! See press this button!" Haven excitedly pressed the button and the harpoon shot quickly into the railing along the ship and blew out a portion. Buckley stared wide-eyed as Haven completely flipped out.

"WHY IS IT SO STRONG?" She yelled in delight. Sickland laughed.

"Because when you press this button not only does it fire, it also activates the dial inside of the slot. The recorded force from that dial is your ballistics Captain!" Sickland smiled proudly as Buckley once again switched to his criticism of Sickland. If it was her force that made the crossbow so powerful, why not just use her regular force powers.

"And I bet your thinking, why don't I just use my regular powers? Because if you use this, your range increases, and you can double the force behind it!" Sickland explained. Damn Sickland.

"Oooooh! What else? What else?" Haven was impressed with all the dangerous things she would be able to use. Sickland pulled out modified weapon after modified weapon and got a "OOH" out of Haven every time. As soon as Buckley got sick of hearing of her awe, Sickland called up to him.

"Soon-to-be-second-mate Bucklet! I got you something!" Bastard. He knew Buckley's name. So that's why he was catering to Haven's childish whims. He wanted to be first mate! Though Buckley didn't care about being first mate, he didn't want Sickland to be any better than him than he already was. Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him. He climbed down from the crow's nest and walked to Sickland and Haven. Sickland grabbed a handle from his large bag and pulled out a rather large sword. Maybe a third of the width of Haven's sword, and around 4 feet in length. The sword had a intricate branching design from the edge of the hilt to the peak of the blade. It was black, but the outline of the design was red.

"This is Respira Facille! I named it after the name of a book I saw in the armory. It's pretty sharp, and it's a high-quality steel blade. The back is lined with a thin film of sea stone, and it looks brand new. The intelligence team this was made for probably had a skilled swordsman."

Buckley listened to Sickland's words and formed the most narcissistic and mean spirited thanks he could give. "Yeah, thanks a lot for giving me something we all know I can't use. This has made you such a valuable ally Sickland, really. My goodness this is amazing, I had no idea what I would do without this useless burden."

Sickland scowled and retorted, "this is mine." An awkward pause came.

"So…." said Buckley, scratching the back of his head. "I'm sorry about that….what is the weapon you got me?" Sickland pointed to the crossbow on the deck.

"This is a bolt acti-"

"Oh that? I heard you say what it does already."

"….? Well that saves some time. I can finally show you what I got you!" Buckley's eye winced after Sickland spoke. This was the second time he was fooled.

"Why do you keep showing me crap? What did you get me!" Buckley finally lost his patience.

"Well, -The-Bandit, I got you a nice cape, but since your so-"

"A CAPE! WHAT THE HECK WOULD I WANT A CAPE FOR?"

Haven and Sickland looked at each other. "To look cool," they said in unison. Buckley breathed slowly for a couple of seconds than spoke calmly.

"Why are you using a sword Sickland? Have you always been a swordsman?" Buckley was genuinely curious. Sickland was mostly a grunt like him, nothing special about him.

"Well yes at one point. I was taught by a lawyer for about a year. I was his apprentice in law and combat. I never displayed any of my abilities at the Marines because my mother feared I would move up the ranks so far that I would forget a career in law. Being a Marine was just supposed to be an accolade to help me get in good with the government. Although I've never had any actual combat experience, I'm pretty sure I can do this."

Buckley doubted he could do this, especially considering the fact that he was as cowardly as he was on Kaze, but he decided to pry further. "Are you sure? You may face tough opposition and draw unnecessary attention if you walk around with that thing. What could a lawyer have taught you about swordsmanship?"

"He was a blind lawyer. But he could always tell if I was holding the sword and swinging it properly through two means he taught me. The use of echolocation, and induced adrenaline."

"Echolocation? Like whats bat use to find their way? And adrenaline?

"Yes. Some blind people use sound to pinpoint where objects are based on how the sounds curve or bounce off of objects. Some people are talented enough to use the smallest noises in various loud environments to pinpoint specific objects or people," Sickland said.

Buckley thought back to when Sickland's ears twitched and he alerted them of the locker falling on them back at Kaze. "That's what that was. And the induced adrenaline?"

Sickland lectured, "Adrenaline is caused by a stressful event by the brain's perception, and as a sort of last resort, the body will go into a dramatically enhanced mode to escape, or beat whatever is a threat. I can induce this state for prolonged periods of time to aid strength, speed, resilience…..unfortunately, since I've been doing this for awhile now in ACTUAL stressful situations, I've kinda flipped the switch from automatic, to manual.

Buckley was impressed. It was true. Sickland had a lean, strong body type, and he had the skills that would aid him in becoming a great swordsman. Nine Wolf and Haven had the awesome power of devil fruits. What did Buckley have that could be of use to the crew? As far as he knew, he was nothing but a burden.

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Author's Notes: Poor Buckley. Seems everyone's calling him Bucket. Review and critique as always!


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Notes: The following chapter is just information on how the rankings in the Marines work in my version of One Piece. Along with the rankings is a brief history on the events that happen after the time of the Straw Hats.

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**Official Justice Dept. The Marines Authority Hierarchy (Rank goes in descending order, with the top being the highest rank)**

Fleet Admiral-Control the entire Marine force. Have some input from the World Government). Possess superior Haki.

Admiral 1st Rank-Leader of the Admirals. Can authorize buster calls, declare war, and are qualified to lead the Marines. Possess superior Haki.

Admiral 2nd Rank-Can authorize buster calls, qualified to lead those lower in rank. Possess impressive Haki.

Admiral 3rd Rank-Can request buster calls from a higher ranking Marine, and qualified to lead those lower in rank. Impressive Haki.

Vice Admirals-Lead buster call attacks, apprehend upper-class criminals, recommend buster calls. Possess powerful Haki.

Rear Admirals-Assist buster call attacks, apprehend upper-class criminals. Possess Haki.

Commodores-Apprehend criminals. Possess weaker Haki.

Captains-Oversee minor operations or outposts.

Commanders-Oversee minor operations.

These are the only ranks I plan on mentioning in the story. Anything that may appear outside of these will thoroughly be explained.

The **Shichibukai** are pirates that have their crimes pardoned in exchange for aiding Marine activities and serving as intimidation to weaker pirates. The criteria to be a Shichibukai in this One Piece world is as follows:

**-A high bounty. Preferably 250 Million+**

**-A reputation. Your name must be feared, and you must truly be frightening to opposing pirates, to the point where the mere mention of your name will spook weaker pirates and prevent them from entering certain areas.**

**-Must be stable. Mass murdering of innocents is not acceptable under any circumstances. Must be willing to meet with, and aid Marines at times.**

**-Powerful. Through unknown means, your abilities will be tested to check your combat capacity.**

**-Show eagerness to join the Shichibukai. Send the heads of notorious pirates or display great strength to the Marines.**

Sovrani are pirates that have actually joined the Marines for a length of time in exchange for pardons and the full bounty of every Pirate they apprehend. Rather than continuing their pirate related activities, they instead patrol and apprehend dangerous pirates. They have reputations as rulers of territories, thus their name. They usually join because they tire of the pirate life and want a pardon to live a easy life, or they make actually join as a change of heart. The Sovrani have ranks, unlike the Shichibukai. To join the Sovrani you need:

**-To do a deed to show your pirate retirement. This is usually carried out by slaughtering your former crew, slaying an allied crew, saving a Marine territory, openly admitting to the pirate world through a widespread medium that you pledge loyalty to the Marines, or relinquishing all treasure. Usually two or more of these are required.**

**-Formal induction to the Marines. Pledge the oath of the Marines, and renouncing piracy  
**

**-Be powerful. Strength is tested, and weak pirates will simply be executed.  
**

The Sovrani are led by the **I Dodici Sovrani.** These are the twelve most powerful of the Sovrani. The Sovrani are typically seen in the New World and around the Red Line. Occasionally, they sweep Paradise. The ranks of the Sovrani are as follows.

Dodici Sovrani Speaker (equal in authority to a 3rd rank admiral)

Dodici Sovrani Captain (equal to Vice admiral)

Dodici Sovrani Lieutenant (equal to Rear admiral)

Dodici Sovrani Member 1st class (equal to Commodore)

Dodici Sovrani Member (equal to Captain)

Sovrani Senior (equal to Commander)

Sovrani Member (equal to Marine ensign)

The events that unfolded from Fish-Man Island Arc during the Straw-Hat era, to Buckley's birth, which is 18 years before the story begins. All in all, 30 years have passed since Fishman Island:

**Roronoa Zoro was the Pirate King. The reasons why will later be divulged. He did not accomplish this feat as a member of the original Straw-Hat Pirates.**

**Straw-Hat Luffy was recognized as the most powerful pirate, more so than Whitebeard or Gold Roger.  
**

**Akainu was killed by Roronoa's crew. After his death, a forgettable admiral became Fleet Admiral for a stint, until Coby came into power, and created the I Dodici Sovrani, and the new perspective of the Marines. Coby manages to bring some sort of peace to the Blues, and the Grand Line.  
**

**After Coby is killed, the current Fleet Admiral came into power. He warps the Marines, and all of it's groups duties. He is recognized as a tyrant, and is part of the reason why pirates have become more widespread (innocent people turned criminal to feed families), and why commoners will more likely help non-hostile pirates  
**

**Finally, the only member alive from the Straw Hat crew will be revealed in the future.**

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**Author's Note:** That was just a brief information page to avoid any confusion in the future, as I will refer to several things later on in the story that you (the reader) may not be aware of, unless you read this. And as a closing sentence, I want to say that Haven is NOT Luffy's daughter, nor has she met him.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Notes: Hello again readers! This chapter will add some new elements to the story, or at least different ways to show character's feelings and perspectives in a more in-depth way. I am going to start using….THOUGHTS! Yes that's correct. I've been a little late to the "thought" party, but now that I've gotten past the initial saga, I'm going to focus more on the character development, relationships, and the darker side of the Brave Luck Pirates. To show you how this new setup works:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Mocking_

**Strong Emphasis**

On a side note, I've read my most recent reviews and I would like to thank everyone for their input. And to answer a question, I DID make Sickland dress like that on purpose, and you correctly guessed most of the reasons why he is dressed so!

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"Now? What's that mean"

"Now you can say it."

"I don't really see the point….."

"WHAT? YOU'VE BEEN YELLING IT FOR EVERY SINGLE ISLAND WE'VE PASSED! WHY THE HELL WOULDN'T YOU DO IT NOW?"

"WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO?"

"BECAUSE IT'S GOOD LUCK! THE ONE TIME I WANT YOU TO FREAKIN' YELL IT YOU DON'T! YOU'LL JINX US!"

Buckley sat up from laying down in the crows nest and looked down to see Nine Wolf and Haven screaming at each other again. From what he heard, they were arguing about the whole _yelling for the wrong island _business, with a strange change of heart from both parties. It had taken them a couple of days, but they had finally reached their destination.

'So this is the West Blue locale we've been sailing to all this time? It's a pretty big island compared to Kaze. There's even a volcano over there!' Buckley smiled as he looked at the first island he's ever seen that wasn't Kaze. It was the first time all day that he had smiled. Ever since Sickland showed that he also had something to bring to the table along with Haven and Nine Wolf, Buckley couldn't help but feel inadequate and useless.

"LAND HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nine Wolf bellowed as loudly as he could as his brown hair and black over coat swayed dramatically in the wind. His ruggedly handsome, slightly bearded face contorted into a weird looking smirk as he let out a "DRAHAHAHA!"

"HEY YOU WANTED ME TO SAY THAT!" Haven was mad at Nine Wolf. Before she shouldn't yell. Now he was yelling. Nine Wolf looked at her and scowled.

"That's how you properly call out your destination rookie." He pulled his cloak over his arms and turned to walk to the lower deck. Buckley watched from above as Nine Wolf opened and disappeared through the door. He also noted the look on his face.

'He's smiling like he just got the better of his little sister. And I thought he was the mature one.' Buckley thought. He turned to look at Haven again. She was surprisingly calm about being called a rookie. She leaped up to the crows nest and greeted Buckley.

"Wahahaha! First Mate Bucket, look alive! We've nearly landed and now we must lay anchor!" She obviously was mimicking something she heard someone else say at some point, as she was probably oblivious to the fact that she blew off the anchor when she "pushed" the caravel into the ocean. Sickland walked out the door and onto the deck in time to see the shoreline come into close view.

"So this is our stop huh? Where exactly is this?" Sickland turned up to the crows nest, where he assumed correctly Buckley was. Sickland had completely covered all of his person in his cloak, which now had the Brave Luck logo boldly emblazoned on the back (Buckley wondered how he managed to do that on his own). Again, he was trying to look cool and it slightly pissed Buckley off. To top it off, he had his sword strapped on his back along with the crossbow. He looked like a werewolf-hunting robin hood.

"SICKLAND YOU LOOK COOL!" Haven completely fell out of her calm, cool' collected captain routine to compliment Sickland. Sickland held the thumbs up and looked around again.

"Say, where is Nine Wolf? He oughta know the name of the island. We're about to wash ashore." Everyone on deck that heard Sickland's words went silent. Three. Two. One. "HOW THE HELL DO YOU STOP THIS THING?" Sickland broke up the silence.

"WHAT? WE AREN'T EVEN HEADED TO A DOCK! WE'RE GONNA HIT THOSE ROCKS!" Buckley panicked at Sickland's panicking.

Nine Wolf rushed back up deck. "YOU IDIOTS!" He yelled at them as he raised his hand and clenched. The boat slowed, and came to a stop right before they were about to hit a rock patch. Funny. There wasn't always a rock patch. Nine Wolf shook his head. And these guys wanted to be pirates? And have him join nonetheless. "You all need to learn how to work a ship before you all go getting yourselves killed. I'll send everyone to shore from here!" Buckley and Sickland's hearts sunk at his words.

"Your gonna send us to shore? Why can't you just sail the boat around to a dock?" Buckley didn't like the thought of having his stomach tossed again. He noticed the as of yet unnamed island was still a good 20 meters off.

Nine Wolf scowled at him. "It's your fault for messing up. Besides, the sooner your on land, the sooner you can think of how your going to live the wanted life! DRAHAHAHA!" Nine Wolf lasted as a cannon noise blew off and Buckley was "sunk" to the island. He felt guilty. Nine Wolf knew he messed up. He was sure that this was the dock area. He turned to Sickland. He had a slight dislike for Sickland for one reason of another. He also hated that he still wore the Marine garb. He was curious as to why he still had it on. "Before I send your ass over there, tell me, why are you dressed like that?"

Sickland's nervousness went away as he stood up straight to begin his speech. "Well you see, this cloak is of the highest captain-quality. The insignia I have placed on the back here is of the Brave Luck Pirates, led by our awesome capta-" Sickland was blasted off to Buckley's location. Nine Wolf smiled as he saw Sickland try to fix the sword in such a way in mid-air, that it wouldn't impale him when he landed. Nine Wolf turned to Haven. She smiled as she hopped down from the crows nest and walked over to grab her sword resting in a corner near the railing.

"I think I can get there on my own. Are you going to join my pirate crew?" She had a serious tone to her voice. One that was different from her interactions with Nine Wolf in the past. Nine Wolf cocked his eyebrow and shook his head.

"Kid, I have all the faith in the world for you and I wish you the best of luck, but this is the last island I'm coming to. This is my hometown, and I intend to die here of good, ripe old age. This was my last hurrah as a pirate, and I'm calling it quits." Nine Wolf stared blankly into space. He had lived his life on the edge for quite some time now, and he had too many of his old friends (or old superiors) betray him. Being a pirate was too risky.

Haven walked over to the edge and looked out into the rocky sea patch. She turned to Nine Wolf and stood her sword up. "Your not old. When we've seen the world and conquered lots, you can come back and die here. I promise your not going to die until then."

"Heh. One hell of a promise. Your trying to head to Grand Line. And even if we survived there, you'd be setting your sights on the New World. Too many of my predecessors went to Grand Line to get themselves killed. I think I'd rather die here, rather than go out there to die."

Haven smiled. "One way or another, your a pretty awesome guy, and with you with us we could all make it to Grand Line and back. Your going to show us to the main town right?" She put her foot up on the railing preparing to jump and watched as Nine Wolf walked over. He smiled and nodded as they both jumped off to the island.

* * *

Buckley couldn't believe his luck. Sickland's sword landed squarely between his legs, about 3 inches from his manhood. If Sickland had flailed anymore through the air he would've probably decapitated Buckley. Buckley got to his feet and walked over to Sickland's lifeless body. His butt was in the air with his head facedown in the sand, and Buckley felt a desire to kick him hard in his rear. He resisted and tapped Sickland. "Oi! Get up Sickland!" Sickland got up with a start. His face was covered in sand. This was deja-vu to Buckley.

"Where are we? What's going on?" Sickland had his wide-eyed look going again. This was too familiar.

"We got launched to the island. We gotta regroup here and wait for the captain. I'm not really sure what our next move is." Buckley looked around himself. They were on the end of the beach. In front of him was a rocky beach and the caravel. Behind him was a light forest with houses scattered about nearby, and something that looked like a town far off in the distance. He came to the conclusion that it was a town because he could see smoke, and his sharp eyes made out what looked to be expert architecture. 'Nine Wolf never really did tell us what the name of the island was, or what kind of island it would be.'

"Right. Where's Respira?" Sickland looked behind him and saw his sword. He got up and pulled it from the sand. "Come on, let's go check out the stuff here. Haven will catch up." Buckley noticed that suck-up Sickland referred to her as Haven, rather than captain whenever she wasn't around.

"I think we should wait a bit."

"Tch. We're pirates now! We can't just wait around for our captain to hold our hands! We're plenty tough, let's just go take a walk through. Nothing can kill us there, see?"

"Kill us? You think I'm scared? More like I'm concerned for Haven. I can't see her finding her way through here, and I'd prefer not to get separated from the rest of the crew."

Sickland rolled his eyes (which now weren't so wide) and slid his sword onto his back. "Well, I'm going to just walk ahead a bit and see what's around. I can't hear any people around us, and we're in a dense forest.

Buckley blinked. He found that hard to believe. When he first took a look around he definitely saw houses spread out throughout the forest. He turned to what Sickland was facing and his jaw dropped. Instead of the beautiful thinned forest from earlier, he saw a dense forest, with no signs of civilization. He looked hard into the distance where the foliage wasn't blocking his view, and he saw no smoke. 'Am I hallucinating?' Buckley thought. 'I definitely saw a way smaller forest a couple of minutes ago!' He looked back down to the sand he was sitting on. It was just grass! What the hell was going on?

* * *

Haven closed her eyes as the wind went through her hair and cooled her. She firmly placed a hand on her hat to make sure it wouldn't blow off and she opened her eyes to look down to where she expected to land. From her initial jump point on the boat, she saw that she would land in a soft patch of sand near Bucket and Sickland. But now it looked like she was heading straight into a gorge! Her situation slowly dawned on her as she realized she couldn't stop herself since she boosted. She flipped her sword above her head and used it's weight as a weight to slow her speed. She landed and threw her sword into the grass to stop herself from sliding into the gorge. She stopped just 3 feet shy of it. She got up and looked toward the sky to see where Nine Wolf was. He was nowhere to be seen. 'I thought he jumped with me? Maybe he flew somewhere else with his water thing?' She thought to herself as she surveyed her environment. This looked nothing like she saw from the ship. She was in the middle of a forest. Across the gorge were a couple of spread out houses.

'I think…..I missed. I wonder where everyone landed? They all looked like they landed in sand and stuff.' Haven scratched her head, shrugged her shoulders, and pulled her hands up to her mouth as she started to call out. "SICKLAND! NINE WOLF! BUCKET! WHERE DID YOU GUYS GO TO?" She hopped over the gorge and started walking towards the houses.

* * *

Nine Wolf couldn't believe his eyes when Haven disappeared in front of him. One second she was flying through the air in front of him to land on Larrigo, and the next she was gone! Was she faster than he expected? No, she already used her boost once, and from what he remembered of their fight, she could only boost once until she landed. He took his eyes from the sky where he was once looking at Haven, and he looked down to island Larrigo. He landed roughly on the sand and used the water in his body to cushion the blow. He slowly got to his feet and looked around the area. He was near two shallow body-sized holes in the sand. He was sure this was where he sent Bucket and that Robin Hood bastard. Yet they were nowhere to be seen. 'I came here about 3 minutes after those idiots landed and they already managed to get themselves lost? And where is their incompetent captain?' Nine Wolf thought to himself.

He looked toward the forest and started walking to it. He stopped when he could hear the Haven girl calling his name. "OI! IT'S ME NINE WOLF? WHERE ARE YOU HAVEN!" He yelled looking around.

"I'M OVER HERE!" He turned to see Haven off in the distance wandering around near some houses. She started running toward him after spotting him when suddenly she dropped. Nine Wolf stared for a minute and face palmed. She couldn't be this stupid! 'Did she just fall into a ravine or something? These freakin' kids…' Nine Wolf started running to where he saw Haven drop, slightly concerned about her safety, but now there were more pressing questions in his head. How did she just vanish and get so far over here? Why hadn't she already met up with the rest of the idiots? Why did Larrigo look so different?

* * *

Author's Notes: And the next chapter will answer most of Nine Wolf's questions. Two chapter updates daily. Review and critique!


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Notes: I want to apologize for falling back on the updates a bit, but I'm back! Thank you for reading, and I enjoy any and all reviews!

* * *

Larrigo was a medium-sized sunny island, with clear waters, and a lush vibrant forest that hugged the large city in the center of the island. There were several towns dotted around, and the townspeople governed themselves, and were friendly with everyone else on the island. There was rarely, if any conflict. It was a paradise of sorts, despite being located in the roughest Blue sea. It was the birthplace of Nine Wolf, and it was the place he wished to die. He knew the island like he knew the back of his hand, and he could honestly say something strange was going on here.

'When we first arrived,' Nine Wolf thought, 'We almost ran into some rocks. I'm sure there are no jagged areas anywhere around Larrigo, and we certainly landed where the dock would usually be. The dock has a eye-catching monument, so I doubt they could just up and move that shit across the way.' Nine Wolf let out a breath as he picked up speed to run to the ravine Haven fell into. He slowed to a stop at the edge and looked across to the scattered homes in front of him. 'This is Coga Town alright. Why the hell is it so close to the shore? Some weird shit's happening.' He remembered suddenly, and looked into the ravine. He could see on the ground Haven propped up on her elbow and using her other hand to scratch her head. It was about a 20 foot drop, so Nine Wolf figured she was okay.

"Oi!" He called down to her. "Get back up here! There's something important we need to talk about. Something strange is going on with Larrigo!"

Haven closed an eye and looked up to Nine Wolf. "Tch. Why are there holes in the world if they don't have anything useful in them?" Nine Wolf ignored her dumb question and used his buoy buoy no mi to pull her up. She winced as she felt her stomach lifted. When he pulled her out completely she breathed a sigh of relief. "I felt like my stomach was gonna blow!" Nine Wolf didn't tell her that that was actually a strong possibility. He looked down and put a hand thoughtfully on his chin as he began to speak.

"Listen Haven girl. That settlement over there is Coga Town. This is the Coga Forest we're in now. But it's supposed to be in the center of the island. We weren't supposed to go into a sea of rocks either. For some reason this island has managed to change completely recently, especially considering the fact I was here about 2 months ago. Also, when I sent Bucket and Sickley over here, they disappeared completely, and in the air you disappeared for a second too. I think some kind of weird phenomena is at work. You understand so far?" He looked at Haven and saw she was just staring at her boots. He doubted this brat heard a word he said. He scowled and jumped over the gap to walk into the town.

"Maybe it's a devil fruit? Someone like us?" Haven pondered aloud to herself. Loudly enough for Nine Wolf to hear and turn around.

"No way. A devil fruit can't do something like this. Switch around bits of an island and teleport people? And why would someone just teleport us randomly? Maybe I just have a bit of a foggy memory. We'll go talk to some Coga residents and ask about what's been going on. He turned around again and continued to walk to Coga Town's center.

'I bet it's a devil fruit. He can make people squishy and throw them, but he thinks you can't teleport? Of course cool stuff like that exists!' Haven smiled and followed after Nine Wolf. She forgot to watch her step though.

CRASSSSHHHHHHH!

"YOU IDIOT! YOU FELL BACK IN?"

* * *

"I'm telling you we warped somewhere, or the island move around us, or we went to a different time period…" Buckley followed after Sickland and explained the situation. Sickley had his sword out, and he was cutting a path through the forest they were walking through.

"So let me get this straight. We landed on a beach, you got up first and saw a forest…then you turned and looked again and you saw a forest?"

"NO! A bigger forest! And there were houses at first but now they're gone! And I could see the ship at first, but then I couldn't see the ship! And I couldn't even see the pile of sand we landed in!" Buckley insisted on his claims. He didn't really like Sickland implying he was crazy.

Sickland sighed. "Sand shifts. Our landing spots wouldn't exactly stay intact. Perhaps you saw a thick forest at first and you just thought it was thin? Maybe you thought the heavier foliage looked like "houses?" I've heard of people doing things like that."

"You must think I'm stupid huh?"

"Suppose I do? What are you exactly gonna do about it Bucket? You've been yelling at me ever since we left Kaze. Obviously you have a problem with me." Sickland turned to face Buckley.

Buckley decided he was going to let Sickland have it. "Yeah, actually I do, -To-Be-First-Mate. Your a huge suck-up, you mocked me on the ship when you acted like you had something for me, and lately it feels like your trying too hard to fit into this whole pirate persona! And my damn name is Buckley!"

"Well excuse me for having my life fall apart before my very eyes! Heaven forbid I try my best to adapt to it! And your not really cut out to be a first mate are you? You can't do anything, and Nine Wolf probably won't join us, so I figured I might as well be the first mate!" Sickland voice elevated.

"Can't do anything? Neither can you! You claim your a "swordsman" but it looks to me like your just some kind of cheesy poser. You flip the script and suck up to Haven to try to be the first mate! Why do you care so much? It's Haven for crying out loud, she treats everyone equally and the only reason we're part of her crew is because we have to hide from the Marines!"

Sickland's face twisted in anger. "You dragged me into this! Your the one that made me a fugitive! And now that I try my best to get used to it, your getting mad at and insulting me? Do whatever you wish First Mate Bucket!" Sickland continued to walk forward and cut down the path in a more aggressive manner.

Buckley seethed with anger, but nonetheless followed him.

* * *

"HELLO!" Haven yelled loudly in the center of Coga Town. It looked abandoned. Nine Wolf looked around until he spotted someone's face peeking at them through a window.

"Look. There's someone in that house. Come on girl, and try to hide that sword! It looks intimidating!

Haven furrowed her eyebrows. "What about the arm thing you have there," she said pointing to his lantern shield. "You look crazy too."

"This is elegant. That crude thing in your hands is not. Now follow me already." Nine Wolf walked toward the house with Haven scowling behind him. For a captain, she sure was taking a lot of orders. Nine Wolf walked to the front doorstep and knocked 3 or 4 times. Immediately the door slid open a sliver, and a eye peeped out.

"C-can I help you?" A woman's voiced asked Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf grabbed the door and pushed it open. A girl with auburn hair, green eyes, and a curvy figure hidden by a puffy dress looked up scared at him. Her soft features were scrunched up in a panicked face. Nine Wolf usually recognized everyone on the island but he couldn't really recall this girl's face.

"It's me. Nine Wolf. I'm sort of famous around here." The girl stopped shaking and smiled as she recognized the island hero Nine Wolf.

"Your Nine Wolf! You don't remember? It's me Aloe! I used to know your sister!" The girl was completely at ease as she spoke. Nine Wolf thought for a moment and slowly he recalled memories of her. 'Aloe who? Oh yeah!…..oh yeah…..she swims on the WRONG side of the water and she tried to take my sister with her.' Nine Wolf forced a half smile and stepped in.

"I remember you Aloe girl! Uh, this is my friend Haven. Do you mind if we come sit and talk a bit?" Nine Wolf pointed to Haven as he spoke. Haven was still standing on the front door step and waved to Aloe. Aloe's mouth dropped as she took in Haven's appearance. Nine Wolf recognized the lecherous stare, and he beckoned Haven close to him.

"Oh…..of course right this way! I have some seats in the living room…would you two like something to drink?" Aloe led them into her living room after she closed the front door. Her house was quaint and small, and it was filled with oak furniture. Nine Wolf sat on the oak sofa with the cushions, while Haven sat cross legged on the floor.

"No thank you. I was actually going to ask about Larrigo. Something seems a little-"

"I want something to drink," Haven said. "I haven't had anything to drink since we got here. Nine Wolf wanted to point out they were here for less than half an hour, but decided against it. Aloe smiled seductively and walked over to Haven. She stooped down to Haven.

"What would you like to drink sweetie?" She asked as her green eyes examined Haven's face. 'Her eyes are so big and brown and beautiful! Her hair, it's cut short and so scrappy and daring and it's hanging over her face in all the right places! That little hat compliments her! Her face is so sexy and sweet! Her lips are to die for and…..' Aloe's thoughts trailed off as she looked down into Haven's top. From this angle, she could see slight cleavage, and she could feel herself on the edge of ecstasy.

Nine Wolf decided he would speak. "Um, actually we had something to drink only about an hour ago, I'm sure she'll be fine. Now I was asking you about Larrigo…?" Aloe snapped to her senses and stood up. She walked over to sit on the chair across from the couch and she began to talk.

"You must be referring to the sudden changes in the island's geography?" Aloe asked Nine Wolf.

He lifted a eyebrow. "Yes actually. What exactly happened since I left here? Why has everything moved around a bit since then?" Aloe chuckled at his questioned. Nine Wolf frowned, not liking being laughed at.

"A bit? Since then? No, it's moved a lot, and it moves often. The last shift was maybe 5 or 10 minutes ago," Aloe casually said and snuck another peek at Haven, who was adorably looking at her boots.

"Shift? A lot? You mean the place is constantly shifting around? What is this? When did this start? What the hell happened to Larrigo?"

Aloe looked back at Nine Wolf. "It's been going on since about a month ago. A volcano appeared here and a man named Zone declared us all to be his test subjects. We can't really leave this island because once you've entered the vicinity of this island, your subject to his control. He can just simply bring you back somehow. He shifts parts of the island, and in some cases he shifts people." Again, Aloe seemed very casual about all this.

Haven looked up. "I told you it was a devil fruit! Wahahaha!" She smiled and Aloe felt herself melt. Nine Wolf's mind was processing everything a mile a minute.

"Zone? A volcano appeared? He can shift people and places? Why are you so calm about this? Where is everybody in this town?"

Aloe was busy admiring Haven so she barely heard any of Nine Wolf's question. She tried to answer the ones she did here. "Everyone went to the other towns to get more people to argue with him or something. I've accepted the fact that he's too tough so I stayed here."

Nine Wolf's eyes widened. "What about my sister? Did she go to?"

Aloe smiled. "Yes she went. She's one of the main people in the Anti-Zone movement! She's gathering as many islanders as possible to fight Zone. She can do that since she's the famous Nine Wolf's sister!"

Haven looked at Nine Wolf. "Your famous?" She asked with admiration in her eyes. Nine Wolf ignored her question as he started to worry about his sister, and tried his hardest to figure out who the hell this Zone guy could be.

* * *

After a 25 minute silent walk, the pair came to a massive rock in front of them. It was gigantic, so big that they couldn't see over it, or around it. It looked like it was wide enough to stretch for at least a mile on either side. There was a giant opening in the rock, almost like a jagged entrance. 'Now that I think about it, this actually looks like a big cave or something," Buckley thought to himself. Maybe a giant hole in the back of a volcano. That would be priceless.

"Can we go through this? Should we wait for the captain?" This was the first time either one of them had direct interaction with the other for quite a while and Sickland's voice sounded nervous, with still a hint of hostility. Buckley noticed he would refer to Haven as captain when he wanted brownie points, or when he experienced a bit of fear.

"That's what I've been saying! I mean, Nine Wolf knows this island better than anybody, so maybe we should just set up a fire here to get them to notice us, or head back to the shore and travel along the beach line until we find a town. No matter what, we've gotta find Haven. And we need to get off each other's throats."

Sickland nodded at Buckley's words. "I guess your right." Sickland didn't seem like he wanted to fight anymore and he laid his sword on the soft grass and sat down with his legs spread out. His cloak slightly opened, and Buckley could see the Marine garb.

"Why do you still have on that Marine stuff? We're wanted now, and you didn't really want to be a Marine in the first place right?" Buckley asked Sickland. Buckley was still mad at Sickland, but he was still curious.

Sickland relaxed further and said, "well I remember something you told me on Kaze. You said that we swore to do the right thing. I guess I see the Marine outfit as a sign of my attitude. More than doing the right thing, I saw it as a sign of adventure. Truth be told I didn't have to join the Marines. I could have went right to becoming a lawyer, but I wanted to see if I could find myself first. This uniform resembles my sense of adventure, and my wish to do the right thing."

Buckley questioned further, "why did you plaster the jolly roger all over the Marine stuff. Doesn't that defeat the point?"

These clothes represent the right thing and freedom. Not the Marines. They have such corruption in their ranks, and I'm more glad I'm their enemy than their ally. Our jolly roger is about bravery. I put it on my back so I wouldn't ever forget that."

"But….do you need to have the jolly roger on your cloak, your chest pocket, your back pocket, your pants leg-"

"Yea. I kind of used a stencil to copy what you drew and I went a little haywire. I regret it." The two laughed together, for the first time ever.

"Here. I can fix it up for you a bit, since you won't look so cheesy Robin Hood."

"I think I'd appreciate that First Mate Buckley.

* * *

Author's Notes: Big update tomorrow I promise. This arc will be more emotional than the first one, and will be slightly longer, so I'll try to have big chapters. Review and critique.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Notes: Chapter 13 is slightly longer than the other chapters, and the second biggest chapter I've written for this story. We'll be introduced to a host of new characters. If anyone has trouble keeping up, don't hesitate to leave me a note in the reviews section so I can do something. Thanks for reading!

* * *

**In the great city of Freedom's Landing, at the center of Larrigo Island**

"Did you hear?" A man spoke to a woman next to him in the crowded city. The man was almond brown, and had a short cut. He had a recently grown light beard that went from his sideburns. He was a mature looker, so the woman next to him wasted no time in taking the opportunity to talk to him.

"Yes?" She tried to say this in a cute way, but the man was oblivious to it.

"A woman called Yvette is going to free us from Zone! She's gathering people to confront him and force him to let us go! I can finally head back home, it's been weeks" He yelled excitedly over the background noise.

The woman had a terrified look on her face. "Weeks? Why is she trying to anger him? He'll just kill us all if we try to revolt. He hasn't really done anything that bad."

"Are you serious? We're all hostages! You can't honestly expect us to wait here till he gets bored of us!" The man walked away from the woman in disgust as he tried to get closer to the center of the crowd to see the speaker. The crowd around him loudly echoed their thoughts on what Yvette was planning.

"She's crazy! She'll get us all killed!"

"I wish she would't try to bring us all into this!"

"We've been trapped for months! She has to free us!"

"That bastard would've never have done this if the great Nine Wolf was here!"

"She's Nine Wolf's sister! She's probably as strong as he is!"

The man squeezed through the crowd and moved even closer to the platform. 'I wonder what kind of pirate this Nine Wolf is? He's a pirate like me, but he's respected around here….in a good way! Almost like he's a hero! His sister hasn't been strung up, so he has to be in good with the law around this island.' The man finally stopped when he about 10 feet from the platform. The crowd around this area was heavy, and they all had pitchforks, bats, and other various makeshift weapons. Some of the city folk even had swords or guns. They all started a chant as a woman walked on stage. She had on a simple green t-shirt, and blue pants. She leisurely wore sandals as well.

"**Y-VETTE! Y-VETTE! Y-VETTE! Y-VETTE!" **The crowd was getting hyped as the woman stopped walking and waved to them. She continued waving for about 10 more seconds, then she moved her hands in a silencing motion. When the applause died down and everyone looked up to her, she began to speak.

"I thank you all for gathering here today however difficult, from the towns of Rurok, Dade, Coga, everywhere! You all have shown your dedication to Larrigo by coming here to liberate her! This has going on for far too long!" The crowd cheered as she talked, so much that she had to quiet everyone down again. "Though we've been scattered for some time now as a people, we've all managed to get here to come together as one. Through information we've gathered from you just being here, we have found a way to stop this madness! It has come to the city council's attention that this Zone character's powers extend beyond moving areas of land and it's people around!"

"Beyond moving areas! You mean he can do other stuff?"

"HE COULD MOVE US TOO?"

"What else can he do?"

The crowd freaked out completely as they started asking Yvette their questions. Yvette continued again as the crowd quieted to hear her.

"In reality, this Zone does not have the ability to move people. Rather, he has the ability to manipulate time on this island. We have people from various towns all over, and the ambassadors of those towns have informed me of the time that has passed since Zone appeared. For some it has been weeks since he arrived. For others, it has been months, even a couple of years. Yet no one in any of the provinces experiencing a 3 year gap are showing any physical differences that are consistent with this time. Rather through medical examination from our doctors on various subjects, it has actually been about a year and a half. "

"A FUCKING YEAR!"

"Thank Heavens I thought it was almost a decade!"

"It only felt like a couple days to me!"

Again the crowd interrupted Yvette. Yvette spoke (again) over them. "It would probably be incorrect to say that he can manipulate time. Rather, he can manipulate our perception of time. To keep us from figuring this out, he kept all the provinces separate by changing how time flows on the island."

The man yelled over all the citizens around him, "I thought you said he could only affect our perception of time? How can he make the land and environment seemingly shift?" The man was upset that he found he was stuck here for more than a year, but the crisis that awaited him back home was a small matter at the moment. Yvette heard the question and answered.

"We aren't entirely sure on how he does that just yet. We know that he can not use time to affect us, just make us ignore it of the passage of it. Perhaps his power is something we can't wrap our heads around yet. But, we know several facts. He can not use this power to harm us, and the threat he sent initially 2 months ago, years for some of you, is an empty one. If we all unite, we can bring down Zone and free Larrigo! We'll stop this madness in 2 days time! That's a promise!" Yvette raised her fist as the crowd exploded and raised their weapons.

The man turned and started making his way back to the inn he was staying in at the city. Now that he understood a bit more about what was going on, he was personally going to have to handle this. He recognized the description of his powers from tales he heard in Grand Line, and he knew that this Zone was someone to be taken seriously. He smirked. The Yvette woman was wrong. He could DEFINITELY do more than harm them.

* * *

Yvette walked off of the stage and toward the city council members standing on the sideline. "I think everyone on this island is ready to bring up arms to stop that madman Zone. In 2 days, we can organize a task force, gather our officers, and cooperatively attack Zone's holdout. He gave his transmission from the Volcano that appeared in the Rurok forest so if he follows the same pattern of switching around locales, it should be close to the city by the time we're ready to attack."

"I have a question Yvette. How did your brother manage to leave this place? Everyone believes he left before Zone showed up, but from what you've privately told us, it seems like there was a possibility he could have been here. If that's true and he still managed to leave, we could probably find a way to evacuate the civ-" A councilwoman spoke before she was cut off by Yvette.

"We can't simply demoralize these people by saying we're going to flee. Suppose we can't leave? Then we would have crushed their spirits for nothing. We have to stick to our gut, and fight Zone." The other council members agreed with her, and they all turned to walk to the central building to discuss their strategy. Silently Yvette thought about her brother.

'He has been gone for 2 months…or has it been a year and a half to him? He's never been gone longer than 6 months, he loves this island too much. Either he was affected by Zone's power and he thinks he's been gone for a couple months, or he's died out there at sea.' Yvette frowned as she thought of the history of the Wolves deaths. She hoped her brother wouldn't join that history anytime soon.

* * *

**Daytime in Coga Town. 2 hours since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived.**

"It started 2 months ago, right after you left. A man by the name of Zone sent a island wide transmission via video den den mushi and told us all we were under his control. He said no one would be harmed, but that he needed to test the people of this island to further his research." Aloe described to Nine Wolf what had happened in his absence.

"So it's only been 2 months? That's right after I left! If I had stayed a little longer I would've been here to stop all this. Well I'm going to stop all this now! How much do you know about Zone?" Nine Wolf stood up with his fists balled as he looked at Aloe. Aloe was still checking out Haven's clothes or something from what Nine Wolf could tell, but he was too busy to think about that. "ALOE!"

Aloe stirred as she looked back toward Nine Wolf. "Just what Yvette has told me. Because our den den mushis were affected by the time stuff she had to personally travel around for news. She said that time isn't what we really think and that Zone isn't teleporting stuff. She got some people to organize this big thing in the capital, and she's at the center of it. I guess if you want to go after Zone you should head to Freedom's Landing and meet up with her, though I wouldn't advise it. He seems pretty tough to me." She let her eyes rest on Haven again. "Say Haven, there's something on your top, let me get that for you."

'My sister is leading a giant group against Zone? She always was one to rally the troops and all that. I guess if Haven and I team up we can take Zone out ourselves, without having to risk any of the islanders.' He looked to Haven and cursed as he softly pulled Aloe away from her.

"Haven girl," Nine Wolf said, "we're going to Freedom's Landing. It's a couple of hours from here so we're going to leave now." He looked at Aloe. "You should stay here."

Haven pouted as she looked toward Nine Wolf and crossed her arms in defiance. "I'm the captain! You listen to me! We're going to land in freedom! I want to move anyway, we've been sitting here for like 6 hours just talking!"

"It's Freedom's Landing idiot."

"DON'T…! Call her idiot Sebastian! Aloe yelled at Nine Wolf. She couldn't help but defend her sweet Haven. She looked so cute when she threw a fit.

"Sebastian?" Haven's face started to crack up at the name.

"Shut up." Nine Wolf hated being called by his real name, and Aloe was one of the few people that apparently knew about it. At least he hoped. He never knew Yvette told anyone his real name.

"Wahahaha! Sebastian of the Brave Luck Pirates! You are truly the most fiendish of the seas!" Haven spoke in a mocking, sarcastic voice. Aloe thought she sounded sexy.

"SHUT UP IDIOT! LET'S JUST GET OUT OF HERE!" Nine Wolf didn't like being laughed at.

"I'll go with you two! I'll show you the way to the city!" Aloe stood up and walked around the house grabbing necessary things.

"I know the way there Aloe," Nine Wolf said.

"Yeah, but you don't know how the shifts work. I do. And I can't let Haven get hurt out there…." She smiled at Haven.

"I'm special, I can look after myself, but it'll be fun if you go," Haven said to her. Haven got up and walked out the front door to grab her sword, which was resting on the wall outside of the house. Aloe watched her backside as she walked out. It was tight and curvy, just like the rest of her divine body. Nine Wolf stepped in her view, practically sensing the lust that was coming from her.

"Look Aloe. I don't know WHAT your relationship with my sister is, or if you did anything to change her, but don't think your gonna go with us so you can try to trick Haven girl into doing something with the two of you. She's an innocent one. Don't try to take advantage." He turned and walked out to meet Haven.

Aloe threw on her boots and hurried out before they left her. She didn't know Haven was "innocent." This would be interesting.

* * *

**Night Time in the Rurok Forest. 2 hours 20 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived.**

"See? Now you don't look like such a tool!" Buckley said to Sickland as he looked at his new outfit. Buckley simply took the Marine shirt, leaving the plain green undershirt, and he used the cloak to tie around his waist. Sickland now looked like a slightly bushido-esque robin hood. Sickland looked at his outfit.

"I like it, but there's a suspicious lack of jolly rogers all over my person." Buckley rolled his eyes as he started getting to work lighting the fire. Once he got it going, the smoke raised into the air past the trees. Buckley and Sickland sat next to the cave, as it was more warm than the fire anyway, and since night had fallen, the temperature dropped severely. The only real reason for the fire was a signal.

"Night sure comes fast around here. I could've sworn it was just 1 or 2 o' clock!" Sickland turned to Buckley to see what he thought.

"Well, I heard in Grand Line some places snow year long, and some places burn like hell fire, so I guess it's not hard to believe an island in West Blue would at least just see darkness a little earlier."

"I guess that makes sense. How long have we been here?"

"Well, I would usually use the position of the sun to tell, but since it kinda got dark early here I just gotta guess. We walked for like 30 minutes and it took about 2 hours to get the fire up and change your clothes, so I'd say less than 3 hours."

"It's taking them 3 hours to find us? Wow, it looks like we might have to find them ourselves Buckley."

"Or we could actually wait now that we've set up this fire here." Buckley put his arms behind his head and laid back as he stared up at the sky. Sickland looked at him and did the same. They might as well just take a quick rest.

"I guess I'll join ya"

* * *

**In a certain volcano (2 hours and 20 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"**I guess I'll join ya**." The young man was lying down as he said this on the opposite side of the volcano entrance from his comrade. The video den den mushi feed showed the two drift off to sleep, as a security guard watched them intently. He turned to his superior in the security room.

"Sir! The two you told us to keep an eye on are now right outside of the volcano! We just thought to check this feed and judging by how relaxed they are, they must have been outside for a while!" The guard spoke to his superior in a serious monotone. His superior walked over. He was a tall imposing figure. He had a gray skin tone, and he had a strong square face. His hair was short and blonde and was mostly hidden under his cap. The cap spelled "love" on the top, but the word love had nothing to do with this man.

"Your Clovert right? Tell me Clovert. Did you just say, 'we just thought to check this feed?' Did you just say that?" Clovert swallowed as he looked at his superior.

"W-w-w-ell…..ye-" Before poor Clovert could finish, his superior had drawn his blade and quickly plunged it into Clovert's abdomen. Clovert looked down surprised as he realized he was pierced completely through. He started to tear up as he realized his life was over and he would never get to meet his unborn son. He started to plead with his superior until he felt the blade twist and expand.

"That's messy Saint Galvin. I thought you preached love? How in the world do you expect people to believe in it, if you cut open your subordinates every chance you get? I heard what the boy said, and I didn't find anything wrong with it." The man who spoke to him had combed back raven hair, and a combed raven colored mustache to match. He wore an elegant orange suit with a black tie. In his hand he held a expensive looking black cane.

Galvin smiled. CHUHARHARHAR! That guy had it coming for a while now. Always talking to the other grunts about his family…..it started to piss me off captain! I just wanted to make an example out of him and show everyone that only the best service and attention will be enough for you!"

The captain smiled at his first mate. Galvin had his heart in the right place. But his sword wasn't, and judging by the shape of the smear resting on the desk the late Clovert was sitting at, Clovert's heart was DEFINITELY in the wrong place. "Well try to not butcher someone for being incompetent next time. It's hard to find good service these days. What were you two talking about anyway?"

"He said he spotted them two kids from earlier hanging outside the entrance. We think the reason why they haven't been affected by the hypnotism like everyone else is because they have large traces of sea water in them. They flew to this island from the blue, so when our cameras detected them and we placed them under the hypnosis they seemed passively resistant." Galvin tried to use as many big words as possible, and what he remembered Clovert saying to impress his captain.

His captain frowned. "So they wouldn't fall for my hypnosis because they had sea water in them? Do changes in surrounding affect them?"

"CHUHARHARHAR!" Yes sir! They still reacted to that! Otherwise they would've navigated through the forest a bit differently!"

"Well that's good I guess. Those two have been going through the forest this whole time right? That means they haven't interacted with anyone else on this island! This is good, we can go ahead and stop these two before they have a chance to run interference. Send a man down there." The captain turned to walk away as he heard Galvin say "sir!" He stopped as though he remembered something.

"By the way Galvin, I have another two questions. Who are you sending down there?"

"Longer. He should be more than enough, the only kid out there equipped looks like a novice."

"Fine. And secondly, those other two that came to this island. They are both affected by the hypnosis, I'm certain of that, but I wanted to ask how one of them got away without us knowing about it?"

Galvin frowned. "Got away? But that second pair just got here too."

The captain shook his head. "No. One of them was here, when I originally used the hypno hypno no mi to affect the island."

* * *

Author's Notes: The time and how the two pairs of Brave Luck Pirates interpret it is essential to this arc. I'll put in effort to make sure you, the reader, are aware of what's going on at all times. As always, review and critique!


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Notes: Chapter 14! Fight Scene, Haven's love life (kinda), and Sebastian! What's not to love? Thanks for reading!

* * *

**In the Volcano (3 hours 5 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

A oasis inside of a volcano. How ludicrous it may sound to someone that never entered into Zone's Volcano. If someone were to come from the outside in, they would be greeted by what appears to be a warm cave. As they went through it and navigated their way through all of the networks, they would either come out to the metal staircase that would lead to the armory, barracks, security room, and captain's deck respectively, or to the oasis, that was viewable by all the occupants in the Volcano on higher floors.

While most of the Volcano's interior was anything but what one would expect (lava), there were some traces in magma, notably in a giant pool that the captain kept to discipline some of his more rowdy (or opinionated) subordinates, though this discipline was often fatal. This magma pool was located right in the middle of the oasis, so when a subordinate was led to his demise, he would have a taste of a peaceful, quaint environment. It was the least the captain could do. Because of this giant magma pool's existence, the entire Volcano was heated comfortably, and although warm air is supposed to rise, specialized fans would blow the excess heat out the entrance, while also amplifying it's intensity. This created the illusion that this Volcano, was in fact active.

As Longer worked his way to the entrance through the tunnel channel, he felt the heat blasting onto his back and seemingly rub the back of his bald, scarred head. It felt great. He was usually into gore, self inflicted wounds, saunas, and foot rubs. He had been assigned to "messily clean up the garbage outside" by Saint Galvin. He reached over his shoulder to grip the handle on his axe, but he quickly relinquished his hold when he felt the heat. He wasn't going to miss this opportunity for good pain. It seemed like the heat blasting onto his back also heated the metal hilt. He licked his lips, removed the black gloves from his hands, and reached over his shoulder to let his bare hand rest on the hot, iron hilt. As it burned his eyes fluttered and he smiled wickedly. He hoped those two pieces of meat outside were going to be able to hurt him.

When he saw the moonlight from outside and he could smell the smoke from a fire, he sped to a run to eviscerate the two. Although he couldn't see them, Galvin showed him live security footage of the two sleeping on either side of the cave entrance. He would simply have to turn left (or right) when he got it, smash as hard as he could, and wake the other so he could look at his friends skewered corpse. The moonlight got closer, and Longer felt his excitement heighten. He pushed himself harder and burst forth. As soon as he was outside, he turned left and slammed his axe down with all his might. He only had to wait maybe 5 seconds. His lips curled into a smile as his hopes were confirmed and he felt the satisfying cut.

* * *

**In the Coga Forest, on the way to Freedom's Landing (3 hours 5 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"I'm thirsty! Can we stop and find a river or something?" Haven was cheerily walking alongside Nine Wolf and complained with a smile on her face. It was an unusual sight to Nine Wolf. Usually when someone complained, they also looked sad or angry.

"Until we know what's going on we can't really afford to interact with any part of this island. You understand that Haven girl? We've only been walking for what? A couple of minutes or so? Learn to control yourself!"

"It feels like I've been here for a day or two. I'm so booooooreeeeedddd! We've been walking forever!" Haven still had the smile on her face as she said this.

"You know Haven, if your really thirsty, I could lead us to a pond we can splash around in…." Aloe turned her head around from leading the pack and tried to capitalize on this opportunity. Haven's face went blank, and she turned to Aloe. She looked as though she were about to nod yes, when the ever present cock-blocker Nine Wolf stepped into her path.

"I told her she could wait. She's just being dramatic." Nine Wolf hated to admit it, but he felt like Haven was something like the daughter he never had. He felt the need to order her around and to protect her. It was probably because of how childish and sweet she seemed. No matter what the reason, he wasn't going to let some pervert take advantage of her ignorance. Aloe scowled and power walked further ahead. Aloe was in a bad mood. Every time she even got close to Haven, Nine Wolf would get in her way. Haven sucked her teeth at Nine Wolf and stomped hard as she walked in temporary anger. Again, Aloe couldn't help but get turned on but the "innocent" bad girl Haven. 'She's such a rebel' Aloe thought.

"We're about an hour from Freedom's Landing. We've made good time. With all the shifts around the island, Zone is usually consistent. We don't know how he affects time, but when he moves the island around, it's in a pattern. The Rurok forest where it's said he is, will appear around the city in about a day or two." Aloe angrily explained as she walked even faster, paying Nine Wolf no mind. Sweet Haven's attendance was the only thing brightening the mood for her.

"What is the city like Aloe?" Haven asked. Aloe felt chills go up her spine. She said her name!

"It's beautiful sweetheart! I'll show you around when we get there, and we won't have to worry about Sebastian whining over everything." Nine Wolf closed his eyes and mentally suppressed his temper. He was sure that he was going to have to shut Aloe's mouth at some point, before she blabbed to the entire island's populace that his real name was Sebastian.

"What do we do when we get there? Are we going to fight the time guy? Or do we meet up with your sister? Is she a Wolf too? Does she look like you? How old are you? Can she beat you up?" Haven rapidly fired her questions at Nine Wolf, and since he had nothing better to do, he decided he would answer them all.

"Find my sister. Yes. Before we fight him yes. No, she's just Yvette. People say we share similar features. 36. No." He answered all of her questions in proper order and focused forward. He really needed to meet up with his sister it was imperative. While Haven counted on her fingers trying to recall the order she asked the questions, Aloe turned to her again.

"Say Haven, have you ever been interested in any one?"

"Yes." Haven answered without missing a beat and while still thinking about the question order.

"Really? Such as?" Aloe prodded. She really needed to know Haven's style and preference. This was the golden opportunity, since Nine Wolf had withdrawn into his inner world.

"Well, I'm interested in Nine Wolf. He's cool. And I'm interested in you. You smell nice." Aloe felt disgust at her "interest" in Nine Wolf, but blushed when she heard her compliment.

"W-w-why thank you darling!" She giggled as she said this. Haven put on her blank face and did an acknowledging nod. Nine Wolf had returned from his thoughts long enough to hear Haven answer Aloe's interest question.

'She doesn't know that Haven doesn't know what she means by interested. This is so pathetic to watch….' Nine Wolf smirked as he continued to listen to Aloe's personal questions and Haven's blunt out-of-context-answers.

* * *

**Earlier in Rurok Forest (3 hours 2 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Buckley! Get up! Haven't you noticed?" Sickland whispered to Buckley. Buckley yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was just drifting off for a nap.

"What do you mean?" Buckley asked, looking at Sickland. His ears were twitching and his eyes were wide again, sword in hand. He looked a bit frightened, but more so alert.

"The heat from the cave. Something slight is blockng some of it. It's almost as if something is in the cave blocking the heat coming from the inside. I think it could be a blue bear or something! I hear it lumbering over this way!"

Buckley quickly jumped up at hearing this. He was terrified of blue bears, ever since he saw one nearly a decade ago. "Can you tell how close it is?"

Sickland gripped the sword he had in his hand. He closed his eyes and focused on everything. "No, it's not a bear. It's more like the sound of metal or chain mail! Someone's coming out of the cave and he's got on armor. If he has armor, he probably has a weapon too."

Buckley looked down with a hand on his chin. "We don't know nearly enough about the people on this island to just get let someone in full armor just approach us. Let's hide somewhere and see what he does. Most people don't leave their place covered in full armor unless they're fixing to fight. He may have found out we were out here."

Sickland whitened at this news, but Buckley beckoned him over and they hid behind a small grove of trees, leaving behind the bits of the Marine uniform from earlier. Sickland's color returned, and he tightly held the sword with a determined look on his face. After a minute of waiting and looking, a rather big and fast man emerged from the cave, turned, and smashed his axe with all his strength into the rags. In an instant, Sickland ran from the grove of trees and slashed his sword along the back of the strange man. His sword connected with the heated iron at such a high speed that sparks flew. The man whirled around and tried to decapitate Sickland with a horizontal slash of his axe.

Sickland, using the vibrations and body language to read the move, leaned back to avoid it, and jumped back so that he could get a full view of this strange man's person. The man was bald, pale white, and he was covered from the neck down in chain mail. He had a large axe that was attached to a chain around his waist. He was surprisingly quick with that axe. Sickland barely had time to dodge the man's attack.

"Your no scrub I see. That should've took that pretty little head of your's off…Susesese! Your a big problem for my boss and he can't get on with his manipulating innocent lives thing cause of you." The man spoke to Sickland.

Sickland's face was nervous, but his courage came forth. "Who are you? Why did you just do that? I can tell by where you aimed when you came out the cave that you were trying to kill us. We aren't a threat to you!"

"Susesese! Not a threat? You just tried to cut into my flesh! I felt that cut on my armor, and I could tell it had enough force to completely separate my upper body from my lower if I didn't have this on!" He proudly displayed his armor. "And your friend might as well come out and join the party as well!" The man swung the axe over his head a couple of times and chucked it full speed at the trees Buckley was hiding behind. Buckley dove out of the way as the trees toppled slowly over into the forest causing several loud crashes, and birds to scatter. The man tugged at the chain and expertly pulled the axe back into his hands. Sickland's eyes widened as he marveled at the man's power.

"W-who are you?" Sickland managed to get out. This guy may well be out of his league. He didn't have nearly enough power in his body to even penetrate the armor.

"I'm Longer. That's all you need to know. Now stand up straight and fight me!" Longer yelled and charged full speed at Sickland licking his lips. Sickland tensed and instinctively held up his sword in a defensive manner. Longer smiled and used the blunt end of his axe to hit Sickland in his torso, breaking past his weak defense. This sent Sickland flying back several meters, knocking him off his feet. Longer stood in place and laughed. He ran at Sickland again.

The two clashed several times in this manner, with Longer pushing around Sickland, and basically wiping the floor with him. He would cut Sickland in minor ways, here and there, to show how much better he was than him. Sickland struggled and defended as best he could.

'There has to be a way to get through his armor….it has to be…." He thought.

"Susesese! Again, I'm wrong! This is the third time today! I thought you were a pussy! Then I didn't! And now I do! Come on kid, if I were trying I would've killed you there! Put up a FIGHT!" Longer charged again at Sickland. Sickland hurried to his feet and prepared to dodge to avoid the predictable head on attack. He felt a bit more confident, knowing Longer wasn't that fast. Than Longer did something unexpected. He tossed his axe overheard at an angle and pulled down, trying to attack Sickland from above at a diagonal angle. Sickland didn't have time to turn around and look for where it was coming while trying to keep his eye on Longer to avoid a shoulder thrust or some other brutish attack.

'I got im,' Longer thought. Suddenly Sickland leaned hard to his right and held his sword in the air above his head. The axe caught on the back of the blade, and the increased force of both of the blades penetrated into the charging Longer's armor. Longer grunted as he felt the sharp blade get a deep cut into his arm. Buckley looked on in awe at Sickland's amazing redirect. He must have used his hearing to tell where the axe was coming from and he used it's power to his advantage.

Sickland didn't lose a beat as he pulled his sword roughly out of Longer's arm and he brought it crashing back down into the tear that was already created. He cut clean flesh. Longer laughed and lurched forward quickly at Sickland to send him flying back. Sickland went down again and struggled to get up. Buckley yelled for his friend.

"Sickland get up! He'll try to kill you!" Longer turned to Buckley and laughed.

"Susesese! Try? I'll definitely kill that bitch for what he did to me! Longer laughed as he showed Buckley his other side and the arm that Sickland cut into. Or rather, where the arm was. Sickland managed to cut his arm off! Buckley felt vomit coming up his throat.

Sickland finally managed to stand up on his two feet and he called out to Longer. "Give up! You've lost! You may be stronger than us, but you've lost yourself an arm! Just get out of here now!" Sickland's eyes were no longer widened. He looked dead serious, and Buckley figured he would have to be to sever a man's arm.

"SUSESESE! YOU CUT MY DAMN ARM OFF AND TELL ME TO GIVE UP? THAT WAS A LUCKY HIT IF I'VE EVER SEEN IT KID AND I'LL MAKE SURE YOU PAY FOR MY ARM WIITH YOUR LIFE!" Longer swung his chain around and threw it directly at Sickland with incredible speed. Sickland rolled to his left and got up, only to go prone again as the axe flew over head, returning to it's owner. This time Longer had wised up. He was attacking Sickland long range, since he was at a disadvantage with some of his flesh exposed, a heavy slow weapon, and a missing arm. No charging, just throwing time. Longer would admit, it wasn't a wise move to charge at this kid full speed ahead, but he was going to make this kid pay.

Sickland continued the fight, rolling out of every path the axe would travel trying to take his head off. He no longer could lay flat, as Longer would pull down while it was in mid-air to bring it crashing down. He couldn't run full speed at Longer either, since it would make it all but impossible to dodge his swings. Buckley looked on as his friend continued to dodge Longer's angry onslaught.

'There has to be something I can do!' Buckley racked his mind looking around until he saw a tree still barely hanging on it's stump. 'If I could just time it right…maybe!'

"STAND STILL!" Longer yelled as he flung his axe where he thought Sickland would roll to. Sickland had to admit, he was good at leading his shot, as the axe managed to slightly cut Sickland.

Sickland leaped back to get out of range of Longer's attacks, but Longer would step forward with him, staying just close enough to keep him in attack range. Another axe shot and Sickland prepared to roll again to the right. Suddenly a tree came crashing down on the chain. Longer's eyes widened as he realized that his axe was pinned down. He pulled hard to cut the tree like before, but he didn't have nearly enough momentum, or the power he had with two hands. When Sickland saw his opportunity, he ran full speed toward Longer. As he jumped over the flat tree, he lowered himself to create power in his slash. When he was at the weakened part of the chain mail, he released all his momentum into a devastating upward slash that completely cut Longer's torso, drawing fatal amounts of blood.

Longer started to get caught between a smile and a fearfull face as he started to bleed out and he turned towards the wall of the cave.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU COME TO SAVE ME?" He yelled out as he finally stopped moving. He collapsed finally and fell face first into the ground, a small pool of blood leaking from him. Sickland shuddered and stared at his sword. His first kill was not pleasant. Not at all. Buckley ran over to him.

"…Are you okay?" Buckley asked Sickland.

Sickland hesitated. Although this man laying dead was his enemy, he felt a pang of guilt and remorse for killing someone defending his home. "I don't know."

"It was self defense. See that flag on him? He was a pirate. He attacked us…..you had to take him down. We weren't doing anything wrong….didn't he yell something before he….went away? He yelled it at the cave."

Sickland forgot his inner turmoil and looked at the cave wall that the man yelled at. "Is that a video den den mushi? That's how he knew we were here! He had a camera rolling!"

"**Him? Please, he can barely afford mead. I'm the one with all the sophisticated technology. You two intrigue me quite a bit! Especially you Robin Hood!**" A voice over a loudspeaker spoke down to them. The voice was rough and it sounded like the speaker was forcing big words.

"Who are you? Where is that coming from?" Buckley looked around when he heard the voice.

**"Who you ask? Just a Saint. Where you may ask? I intend to let you two find out! CHUHARHARHAR!**

* * *

Author's Notes: Fight scenes have never been my forte but I'm trying! Read and critique!


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Chapter 15 out today, 16 and 17 coming tomorrow! Haven's been abducted? Thank you for reading as always!

* * *

**The outskirts of Freedom's Landing (3 hours 30 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Of course I've been with a woman! I was inside one! And one kissed me before, and I look at women all the time!" Haven was getting sick of Aloe questioning here. 'I've always been around women! My mom gave birth to me and she kissed me when I was little!'

Nine Wolf chuckled hear and there at the exchange Aloe and Haven had for the better part of an hour. Aloe constantly pressed Haven with questions about her sexuality and love life, and Haven would answer in unexpected and far off ways. It seemed to to Nine Wolf like she was doing this on purpose. He looked further ahead as he saw the forest becoming thinner. 3 or 4 story buildings slowly came into view. Houses and shops lined the view the further along they got and Nine Wolf knew they had arrived in Freedom's Landing, the capital and his birthplace. He smiled as he took in the familiar sights from the city gate. A guard emerged from near a desk at the gate and stopped them from entering, intent on interrogating them to make sure they weren't any of Zone's men.

"I'm sorry but the only non-residents that are allowed in this city since the crisis are those that came personally with Miss Yve-" The guard cut himself off as he realized who he was speaking to. "NINE WOLF! NINE WOLF! HOW ARE YOU SIR?" The guard exploded with glee. He was dangerously waving around his sword in excitement. Haven lifted her sword and cheered along with him waving hers. A guard who was sleeping at the desk stirred and looked up to see his comrade yelling and waving his sword at a young woman who was also swinging her large sword. The guard immediately hopped up to the rescue but tripped himself and face planted so hard he fell unconscious. No one noticed this.

"Drahahahaha! Yes it's me! You were saying Yvette has come to the city? Do you know where my sister could be?" Nine Wolf asked the gleeful guard. The guard stopped his cheers to answer.

"Yes sit! She's right in the large building over there with the other council members! They've come up with a plan to combat Zone and free the island!"

"Right. Thanks. These two are assisting me so I hope you won't mind if they come with me. We've got important work to do with Yvette. Come on Haven girl, Aloe." Nine Wolf beckoned to the two. Haven stopped dancing immediately to frown at being ordered around again, and followed Nine Wolf. Aloe followed behind Haven closely. The guard saluted as they passed, and he ran over to the desk to wake up his buddy. He looked down and saw his friend facedown on the ground with his butt up.

"Geez Todd, you sleep in the strangest places and you never really care for the job."

* * *

**A hotel in Freedom's Landing (3 hours 35 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Realize." A certain almond brown pirate said to the hotel manager.

"Realize what sir?" The manager scratched his head. This man had come up to him and told him he wanted to return his room key since he was checking out. He asked the man his name, but all he got was a unfinished statement…..or question?"

"Realize," said the ever patient pirate. "The name I checked in under is Realize."

"Oh, I'm sorry sir you'll have to forgive me sir. I usually don't work the counter unless an employee is out, and the name sounded strange to me. I'll have everything worked out…how soon will you have moved your belongings and your aware you may not be able to leave the city correct?"

"I have everything I need already with me. I'll just be leaving. Thank you for your hospitality." Realize turned and walked out of the hotel to the sunny day awaiting outside. His duster was tan and clean. The white dress shirt and black vest under his duster, complete with black slacks and stylish boat shoes made him look like a fashion savvy outlaw. He shielded his eyes from the sun by placing a cupped hand on his forehead, and walked toward the city entrance/exit. He would need to leave the city so that he could deal with Zone and get off this godforsaken island. His body was on autopilot as he swerved through the crowded street, while his mind was going through the problem that was awaiting him in Grand Line. He didn't know that he had been stuck here for a year now! This only raised the stakes. As he walked and his brain focused further on the incident, he walked smack dab into someone else.

"Hey!" The girl he walked into stepped back and looked up at him. She was only around 5'7 or so so she had to look up, since he was around 6'4. She was holding a massive weapon at her side, and she had what appeared to be a jolly roger on her cap. He figured that she was a pirate fan, and was a Anti-Zone resistance fighter.

"Excuse me," Realize said to her as he smiled and stepped to the side and let her walk past. She smiled and stepped by with her group.

"He looks like Bucket!" The girl said to her group. The man with her turned and looked at him. He gave Realize a once over and continued walking. Realize himself continued to walk toward the city entrance. He saw the shameful guard outpost (a desk), and the two guards on duty near the side. One was passed out while the other was speaking to his motionless body. This was a good opportunity for him to slip out, since he knew it was usually a hassle to slip in and out of cities when they were on lockdowns like this. He stealthily made his way out and turned from the opposite direction of the guards. Once he was far enough in the forest to hide properly, he pulled out a map he received earlier. From what he understood, the shift would work in a pattern.

'Every two and a half days or so, this guy shifts the island's four corners around in a clockwise direction. So the forest I'm in now, which would lead to Coga Town if I kept straight, is currently the closest to the city. In two days, it'll be Rurok forest, where the volcano is. So if I hurry to where Dade would be, I'll be at the volcano,' Realize thought as he scratched his head. He was sure he was right, and he had to get off of this island quick, so he started sprinting toward the direction Dade is (or was?).

* * *

"He looks like Bucket!" Haven pointed back to the tall man she walked into. Nine Wolf turned around and looked toward the man Haven had just walked into. The man was looking in their direction, smiling. Nine Wolf looked him up and down and turned back to walk toward the council building.

"Who's Bucket?" Aloe quietly asked Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf noted she hadn't asked Haven this question.

"He's her first mate. They're pretty close." Nine Wolf smirked as he said this. He saw Aloe's morale drop drastically. The group continued walking in silence (with the exception of Haven who was oohing and ahhing at everything she saw) through the crowd as people recognized Nine Wolf and cheered in spurts from hear and there. Annoyingly, Haven would join in with their cheers, raising her weapon, and prompting everyone else to raise their weapons and cheer with her. Nine Wolf didn't like having weapons raised near him. The trio finally made it to the council building and walked in. The receptionist at the desk gawked when she saw Nine Wolf and hurried away to tell the council, asking that they all please take seats while she was away.

Haven grew bored and stood up to look at the receptionist's desk. She saw the receptionist's name was Steadcroak. She heard a name like that once. Was it Steadcock?

"Say Sebastian," Haven said, drawing a laugh from Aloe and a agitated face from Nine Wolf. "Do we know anyone called Steadcock or something? This lady's name is Steadcroak!" Haven said, and pointed at the plaque on her desk. Nine Wolf sighed, and began to speak.

"Yes, his name wasn't Steadcock, it was Steadcroak, just like hers. That's his daughter, Maybelle."

"Steadcock has kids?" Haven asked, oblivious of his real name.

"Yes. She's only a bit younger than me. We both were understudies for her father."

Aloe frowned. "I didn't know you studied under Captain Steadcroak. What for?"

"We wer-" Nine Wolf cut himself off as he saw the receptionist was back. "…I'll just tell you later."

"If you all would follow me please." The receptionist, now known as Maybelle, asked them to follow her. The group got up and followed Maybelle.

"You took a really long time. I thought I was going to die. You should work faster," Haven rudely and casually said to Maybelle.

"Shut up, that was quick and don't be so rude Haven girl!" Nine Wolf scolded Haven, drawing out her typical frown reaction, and Aloe's blush from seeing Haven's "angry" face.

Maybelle smiled at the amusing three and led them up three flights of stair, down a hall, and to a white door. "The council will see you now!" Maybelle smiled more and hurried back to her station. Nine Wolf gripped the knob and pushed in slowly. As he stepped into the room with Aloe and Haven in tow, he saw a long round table with 5 or 6 important individuals looking at him, save for one he saw the with familiar long, brown hair. The woman had her seat turned as she was looking out the window, but upon hearing the door open she swiveled around. The brown-haired woman smiled as she came eye to eye with her brother, for the first time in over a year.

"Nine Wolf. I haven't seen you in a while."

* * *

**Earlier, outside of Zone's volcano (3 hours 25 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"We'll find out? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sickland yelled at the voice. The moonlight outside almost shined directly on him, making him look slightly more epic.

"You'll know the answer, the moment you walk into this wondrous volcano!" The voice tried to say a big word that ended up being a medium sized word, so it failed to impress.

"Why would we go into a volcano that a madman pirate just ran out of, and a creepy ominous, unsophisticated voice is beckoning us to come into?" Buckley said to the video den den mushi.

"UNSOPHISTICATED!…whatever. I think you'll find it's in your best interest to come here if you want to save the one that came here with you! " The voice spat at them.

Sickland and Buckley felt their skin go white. "No one came here with us!" Buckley answered for the two. This was obviously a bluff.

"CHUHARHARHAR! Oh I beg to differ! I think you came here with a young woman! We have her right now! She's a nice little white girl and she has such an adorable little outfit on! She had a pretty big sword with her, but we had to take that! I don't really have time to argue with you two it's about my turn….." The voice spoke to them casually.

Buckley's eyes widened. They had managed to abduct Haven! THE Haven! Their powerful captain that turned the legendary Nine Wolf into mince meat! If they had taken her, what chance did they have? What would even be the point in them trying to save her?

"YOU BASTARDS! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!" The slightly hurt Sickland looked anything but as he yelled louder now. "YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD US THAT UNLESS YOU WANTED SOMETHING, SO I'M ASKING YOU, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!"

"CHUHARHARHAR! That's better….that's better. We want that fancy sword of yours. We took her dull shit, but that sword your holding looks valuable….hell it oughta be, with how easy it grinded Shorter or whatever that bitch's name was, CHUHARHARHAR!" The voice laughed and joked about his friend's death. Buckley felt disgusted.

"You want that sword? You just sent that guy out here to kill us for it, so what makes you think we believe that you want a simple exchange? How do we know you won't just simply kill us all and take the sword when we go in there?" Buckley questioned the voice.

"That sounds like a chance you'll have to take. We have no reason to kill ya, we just wanted your nice ass weapons, and some of her fine ass, and we're done here, CHUHARHARHAR!" Sickland tightened his grip on his hilt until his palm bled a little. Buckley couldn't believe this was happening. It didn't really feel like they had Haven, but was it a chance he was willing to take? Buckley looked toward Sickland contemplating. Sickland was silently looking down gripping his sword tightly. It looked like he was thinking hard as well.

"CHUHARHARHAR! I'll tell you pussies what! I'll give you an hour to make up you mind! During that time, she won't get hurt or anything. But after an hour, if you two don't inform the video mushi of your decision, I'll kill this bitch." The voice left, as Buckley and Sickland stood silently, wondering what the hell they would do.

* * *

**Inside of Zone's Volcano (3 hours 30 minutes after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"CHUHARHARHAR! I'll tell you pussies what! I'll give you an hour to make up you mind! During that time, she won't get hurt or anything. But after an hour, if you two don't inform the video mushi of your decision, I'll kill this bitch." Galvin said as he stood up from the mic after turning it off. He turned toward his captain. "Nice save captain! I didn't think to ask them for the sword!"

The captain smiled. "Of course, Saint Galvin. That sword serves two purposes here. As a reason for us to tell them we want them to come in here. That way they don't think we're just going to quietly kill them, which we are. And also because that sword does in fact look expensive. We can probably sell it for quite a pretty penny when we leave this damn place."

"CHUHARHARHAR! Captain, your brilliant! I also liked the bluff you worked out! All we had to do was describe the chick from the video we had recorded from earlier and those two went crazy! Whatever happened to her anyway?"

"Don't worry Saint Galvin. It doesn't matter who, or where she is. She's under the illusion accordingly, just like the fellow that managed to leave here somehow a year ago. They'll be defeated with the masses eventually, but now we need to focus our efforts on eliminating those two boys. That one with the sword is dangerous, so if they come in here and play by our rules, things will go a lot more smoothly. Be sure to get an update on their answer."

"Suppose they don't come in?"

"They'll come in," the captain said to his subordinate with a smile on his suave face. He turned and walked out of the security room with his cane in hand.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: Chapter 16 is up and running. It's a short chapter unfortunately, but more tomorrow. Some background on Realize, Nine Wolf cliffie, and Buckley and Sickland make a decision. Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Council building in Freedom's Landing (3 hours 40 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Yvette!" Nine Wolf couldn't contain his excitement. It had been about 2 months since he last saw Yvette. He loved his sister dearly, and he could barely restrain himself from embracing her in a hug, but he knew that would be quite unprofessional, not to mention the fact his lantern shield would rough up her shirt.

"It's good to see you after such a long while Se-Nine Wolf." Yvette professionally said to him, though her smile showed that she was just as excited as he was. The council around the table smiled and greeted Nine Wolf, the island hero, and Haven, believing it was the right moment, lifted her sword into the air and fist pumped. To Nine Wolf's chagrin, 2 members of the council started fist pumping with her until Yvette motioned for them to quiet down. She pointed to a bench and offered for Nine Wolf and his company to sit down.

"Nine Wolf, we have several questions we would like to ask you. No doubt your sudden appearance on this isle will leave many villagers asking questions," Yvette calmly said to him. "We're in the middle of a cr-"

"Crisis? Your talking about that Zone character right?" Nine Wolf cut her off. The council, including Yvette was surprised that Nine Wolf knew about the Zone incident.

"How did you gain knowledge about that?" Yvette inquired.

"From Aloe Vera over here, and if not her, I'm sure any old person on the island would've told me by now." Nine Wolf nodded toward Aloe. Aloe smiled and looked Yvette up and down.

"Ah, Aloe. It's nice you finally decided to come here. I'm glad you made it here safely with my brother protecting you."

"Him? He may be a hero but I would feel a lot safer with you Yvette. I should of came with you when you left the house." Aloe gave a cheshire cat grin at Yvette. Yvette smiled back and Nine Wolf felt himself cringe.

'Left the house? They were in the same house? I thought Aloe said they _used_ to know each other?' Nine Wolf nervously readjusted himself in the seat and asked a question pertaining to the subject at hand.

"How much do you know about Zone? Is his power a devil fruit? From what I understand he can manipulate time and land." Nine Wolf looked at his sister to answer.

"His powers are still a bit too much for us to rap our heads around, but we have found out several things about the nature of his abilities. For us to tell you that, we have to ask you an important question, one that may dictate the future of this island.

Nine Wolf raised an eyebrow and listened closely to what she had to ask.

* * *

**200 meters from The Volcano (4 hours 20 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

The sun was shining brightly. Realize finally slowed down from his fast paced run. He had sprinted the entirety of the distance from the Coga Forest, to the Dade forest, where the Rurok forest was currently supposed to be (confusing right?). He knew he was headed in the right direction for quite some time now, as he could easily see the volcano towering overheard once he was close enough. He also saw smoke in the air, as though someone on the other side of the Volcano started a fire. He started walking up to the Volcano slowly as he recuperated lost energy. He planned to enter the Volcano and persuade Zone to allow him to leave by any means necessary. Realize knew that his name and pirate affiliation was enough to get most run of the mill captains to submit, but this Zone was a pirate famous in Paradise, Grand Line. Realize sighed as he realized he may have to actually fight to free himself.

As he approached the Volcano, he could make out what appeared to be a small cave. This looked to him like the official entrance, so he quickly scanned for a video den den mushi that may have been placed to catch intruders. Most likely several den den mushis had already started recording him, but he wanted to find a big one to make his announcement to Zone with. He walked right under the sweep of the video feed, and stared intently upwards. Usually there was a mic as well so that the viewer could warn the potential intruder. Realize would use that opportunity to persuade Zone to let him off of the island.

* * *

**The Volcano (4 hours 20 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Captain….we have a small hang up." A grunt yelled for his captain, but was instead greeted by Saint Galvin.

"What'd you say you adolescent punk?" Saint Galvin said, trying to throw in a big word that didn't mean much here. The grunt swallowed.

"W-w-we have a s-small hang u-up sir…" he said meekly, as Galvin looked hard at him.

"What seems to be the problem?" The captain said as he walked into the surveillance room. He stared sternly at Galvin, warning him not to off another valuable soldier.

"Well, uh, we have a intruder who's just staring at the den den mushi, almost like he wants us to say something about it," the middle aged grunt said to his captain.

"Is he at the entrance with those two that we're going to kill?"

"No, he's on the other side," said the grunt.

The captain looked into the screen and saw a young looking pirate with a duster on staring at the screen. He had what appeared to be a rifle on his back, and a knife at his hip. He also had 2 or three other holders on his person, and the captain could imagine that he had dangerous weapons in them as well.

"Well I guess we better speak to him right?" The captain said as he pressed down the mic button. "Hello? How is your day sir? Do you have business with us?"

The stranger smirked into the camera and said, **"hardly. I just want you to stop this thing of yours so I can leave this island. Just me. I'm not an original resident, so what happens to these people is of no concern to me."**

The captain smiled and spoke into the mic. "What a hero. So you would like for me to grant you an exclusion so you can leave? I assume you won't take no for an answer, so if I did say no, what exactly would you do?"

**"I'd have to make you let me leave. I have something to take care of in Grand Line. Official Blood Contact Pirate business and all."**

The captain froze up at hearing this. 'Blood Contact Pirate business? Is he a messenger? Or could he possibly be….' the captain looked hard into the screen and tried to recognize the youthful face. It was….it was…

"WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" The captain yelled at the screen, getting a jump from the grunt and an amused look from Saint Galvin. He never saw the captain like this.

"**Realize**," then man simply said and lifted his shirt to his chest. The word ReaLIZE was tattooed across his chest diagonally, with the Blood Contact jolly roger proudly on display. The man smiled smugly.

The captain felt sweat form around his brow, and a mix of excitement and fear in his stomach. Realize the Blood Letter was here in front of him. This was a New World pirate, one so powerful that he held rank in the Blood Contact pirate crew, a premiere crew with a captain that was nearly a Yonko. If he gave into his demands, he might be saved, but if he could somehow find a way to kill this man and send his head to the government….he could probably become a Shichibukai, and gain immunity and free roam on the seas. And even if he didn't become a Shichibukai, his reputation would skyrocket. There were two positives to killing Realize, and only one to letting him go. You do the math.

"Realize?" The captain calmed himself down."I see. I don't want any trouble with the Blood Contact Pirates. Just make your way into the cave please and I'll give you clearance."

"**Into the cave? This is a huge trap right? You must really think lowly of my intelligence sir**." Realize looked up at the screen hard. The captain once again felt his heartbeat increase.

"Yes. That's the only way I can let you off this island. Not because I demand so, but out of necessity. Your a famous pirate anyway, and I'm sure your powers could best any foolish traps I would intend to lay down. You have my word. Just put in a good word for me with your captain, yes?"

Realize smirked and stepped into the cave. He knew that this was going to be easy for him, but he still wished he didn't have to kill the obvious liar to get off the island. The captain licked his chops. This was going to be a dangerous and interesting game.

* * *

**The Volcano's opposite entrance (4 hours 25 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"I say we go in there to save Haven. She would save us in a heart beat. Come on Buckley we can do this!" Sickland stopped pacing back and forth (which he had been doing for hours) and yelled at Buckley.

Buckley was busy trying to think and mentally keep track of time. 'It's almost been an hour now. We're nearly out of time.'

"Well?" Sickland said. He was getting rather impatient since he was nervous, yet excited to save his captain. His kill from earlier left his mind, as he continually told himself that he could save Haven. Buckley wished that he had Sickland's confidence at the moment.

"We have to go in there I guess," Buckley said, though half heartedly. He was terribly afraid of being skewered by traps, or running into more mad men like Longer, but he knew that he had to do everything in his powerless power to save Haven. Sickland placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry. We can do this. Just stick close with me, and I know we'll make it out of there alive with the captain. Besides, once we free her, she can just blast us a way out, it's not like we have to get in and then out on our own." Sickland's words did make Buckley feel a bit more confident. The fire died down, and the only light left was from the moonlight.

Buckley swallowed and walked into the path of the video den den mushi.

"Hey!" Buckley yelled loudly. No response.

"HEEEEYYYYYY!" Buckley again yelled at the video den den mushi.

"CHUHARHARHAR! Back again? You got a decision yet puss-wa? Should we take this girl's head off or are you gonna come and have a little word with us?" The voice was intimidating and this time avoided big words.

"We're going to give you the sword. But you have to promise that you'll release her!" Buckley said in vain, knowing that when it came down to it, they were going to have to fight for survival. The voice knew this as well, but nonetheless acted like they had a deal.

"That's what I've been telling you all along brat, just come in here, give us your shit, and cordially execute your way out of the premiere!" This time the voice failed horribly.

Buckley turned to Sickland, who rested his sword on his shoulder. Sickland looked determined to help save Haven.

"Right then. Let's do this!" Buckley stepped into the cave, followed closely by Sickland.

* * *

Author's Note: Short chapter, sorry! I was sick today, so I mostly stayed in bed and I tried to get this chapter out as quickly as I could. As always, read and critique!


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Chapter 17! A confident Buckley emerges? What awaits inside the Volcano? Thanks for reading, and check out my Bleach story, **"The Lost: Memories."**

* * *

**Inside of the Volcano (4 hours 30 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Bzzzttt!

Light after light flickered on as Realize made his way through the Volcano's dark entrance. It seemed like he was not actually in the main part of the volcano yet, but more like he was heading underground.

'So they aren't actually in the Volcano, more like they're under it.' Realize continued his descent down into the tunnel deeper when he hit a slope that started taking him back upward. He heard the voice speak over a mic to him from one of the walls.

**"Right now you're probably thinking we are situated underneath this Volcano due to the fact that your headed down, but you'll find this is not the case. When you start to feel your feet hitting metal and heading up, you'll find that we can in fact make the impossible, possible." **

Realize was already making his way up the metal stairs as the voice spoke, and after about 4 or so more minutes of trotting, he found himself in front of a large metal door.

**"This is a precaution, to keep unruly visitors from entering. However since we've been graced by royalty, we can make an exception."** Realize noticed that he said they didn't let _unruly_ visitors enter, but they would make an exception. He just implied that Realize was unruly. This made him frown, as he was trying his hardest to be polite and cordial.

"Shut up." Realize simply said, just loud enough that he was sure that the voice could hear him. This really pissed Realize off. 'Looks like this island just got itself freed. I'm gonna kill the devil fruit user when I see him.'

The door slowly opened out, and a bright light glared Realize's eyes. Naturally, he blocked the light with a cupped hand and his eyes slowly adjusted to the sight before him. His jaw dropped slightly as he saw that he there was an oasis sprawled out in front of him. Not just a small oasis either-it appeared to stretch forward for miles and the 180 degrees he could see in front of him. It looked amazing and sunny. The draw distance in the oasis simulated that of a real one, so naturally he couldn't see the wall on the other side. He thought he heard a small disturbance in the distance but ignored it.

**"Welcome to the Oasis. This is our little paradise in Zone's Volcano. It's an amazing feat in architecture, and I can't tell you how long it took for me to remodel this Volcano to my liking. Some parts of it are still active, though you fortunately won't be heading to those."** The voice bragged to Realize. It continued, **"you will be heading to the pair of stairs that are in the center of Oasis. They are a long winding pair of stairs that go up several flights and will allow you to access the different levels of this place." **

Realize looked up and saw two gigantic, grass covered tubes leading up about 10 stories. At their peak, they separated into 10 different horizontal tubes that were attached to walls of the Volcano. Realize knew that this was no feat that a mere pirate crew could accomplish. There was something a bit strange going on.

**"Inbetween the stairs is a pool of magma, where we purify some members for their trespasses. You would do well to avoid falling into it. Both stairs lead to the same place, but on different sides of the hallway. When you arrive in my office, I will retract my abilities from affecting your person. There will be several of my subordinates spread throughout the Oasis, however they will not be hostile toward you." **The voice finished talking, probably for some time now, as Realize started to walk forward again.

'He probably is going to try to kill me at some point. Probably warned me about the magma pool so that he could trip me up with something else and he wants my face recognizable. That's no problem. I'll do the same for him.' Realize smiled and trekked onward.

* * *

**Inside of the Volcano (4 hours 30 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Tzzzzbb!

Electric trap after electric trap came to life trying to kill Buckley and Sickland as they sprinted through the tunnel network. The two narrowly avoided a variety of traps, ranging from tripwires, pressure sensitive plates, and flying darts.

"I…knew…..this….was…..a…..trap!.." Buckley yelled to Sickland, who was running right beside him.

"….We….really….should've…..thought…..twice….about…..this!" Sickland's eyes were wide as ever. He was currently zig zagging his steps, trying to reduce his chances of setting off a land mine.

It was too late for either one of them to leave since the entrance they came through shut, and the traps started rolling out. They were currently moving in a downward descent, until they felt their feet pound onto metal.

**"CHUHARHARHAR! Right now you're probably thinking that we just invited you into this Volcano to kill you. In actualimification, you two came in a bit too quickly for us to disable all the traps, and once the security system kicks in, we can't help it. Just try to make it here in one piece if you want to see the girl again!" **Buckley was sure the voice said a word that wasn't real. But he did say something curious. Volcano?

"I'll have you know! As the captain, I don't fear you and neither does Iena!" Buckley yelled up. Sickland turned from his wild dodging to look at Buckley. What warranted a statement like that? It was full of lies!

**"Your a damn weak captain aren't you. This girl has been crying for you to save her this whole time. She said her captain would save her! Prove her right you pathetic scum!" **The voice spat back.

The two ran up the metal stairs to a gigantic metal door. The two ran headfirst into it and started pounding as hard as they could. Slowly, the door opened out toward them, slightly pushing them out of the way. The two backed up and dove through the small opening in time to avoid a flurry of explosions behind them. The two face planted into soft sound, rather than hard metal. Buckley quickly pulled his face up to look for any more quickly approaching danger. What greeted his eyes surprised him.

They were in a desert like environment, with patches of cool water everywhere and tropical looking trees. It was a brilliant looking environment, and he wondered how it could be in the middle of a cave. Or was it a volcano? It looked they were at an oasis. Buckley reached and shook Sickland. Sickland looked up wide eyed and asked Buckley what was going on. Buckley shook his head as he experienced deja vu for the 3rd time with Sickland.

"We're in a cave. Or a volcano?" Buckley said.

"I think we're in a desert or something. Maybe we're not in a cave, but this is like the real island, and we just passed through the front?" Sickland wondered aloud.

Buckley shook his head. "No. Off in the distance I can see a large wall or something. We're definitely in a controlled environment. There's walls all around." Sickland squinted and stared harder. The draw distance was too great for him to see the other side, and the light bathing them felt like real sunlight."

"Say," said Sickland. "Wasn't it just dark outside? Why is it all sunny and happy looking in here?"

Buckley felt his eye twitch. "I just told you we're in a cave or something. They probably have some way to do artificial lighting, you know to make us think it's a daytime oasis getaway." Buckley's eyes left Sickland's face as he scanned the large area they were in. Far away over some hills he could see two grass stalks raising into the air. At their peak, they were separated in such a professional way along the top that he figured they were man made tubes, covered in grass as an added decoration. The voice came over the mic again.

**"CHUHARHARHARHAR! WELCOME TO ZONE'S VOLCANO!"** The voice gleefully yelled at them. **"You two are going to want to make your way to the stairs in the center and work your way up from there to make it to where your friend is being kept. It should be a safe and leisurely walk since you done went and set off every trap off on your way here!"** The voice cut off and Buckley and Sickland staggered to their feet. In front of them was an oasis paradise, and their captain.

"Well, you heard him. We have to go forward until we find Haven." Sickland said as he started to walk forward, with his widened eyes back to normal. Buckley grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait a second. We didn't think properly before we came in here, let's think properly so we can get out." Buckley had his hand on his chin thoughtfully. Sickland could tell he was thinking.

"What do you mean? All we can do is go forward at this point he closed the way out."

"I'm aware of that, but something just came to my attention. These men do not have Haven." Buckley simply said as he thought.

"What?" said Sickland. He was confused. Of course they had Haven! They described her and everything, and she just suddenly disappeared.

"Well it's actually quite simple. The genius up there made one too many mistakes."

* * *

**Inside of the Volcano Security Room (4 hours 35 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"…off on your way here!" Galvin finished speaking into the mic, turned it off, and turned to smirk in the direction of his captain. What he was greeted by was a menacing glare from his superior.

"You put the nails in the coffin on our initial plan Saint Galvin. Your incompetency has reached new bounds today!" The captain at first spoke calmly in a condescending way, but switched to a yell. "YOU JUST FUCKED UP EVERYTHING!"

Galvin's face lost the smile as he racked his mind to find what he did wrong. "But I…." he began before the captain yelled at him again.

"But I what? Ruined everything? Tell me, do you know nearly enough about this girl or those brats to play their little game?" Galvin was truly confused as the captain face palmed and continued. "Your first clue was when you first spoke with those children. When you told them we had the girl, they completely fell out of sync. They panicked, and they became aggressive! They are risking everything to get here! Tell me Saint Galvin, do you know why that is?" Galvin scratched his head.

"Saint Galvin, it's because she is most likely a first mate, or the captain herself. Not a simple whore that they wish to have back. Not a sibling, as neither one of those two look like her from what I've seen of the footage. And speaking of footage, you have cameras set up around the beach line to look out for Marine ships so we could divert them right?" Galvin swallowed hard and nodded. "Well let me tell you something. I went through the tapes and found that they had a conversation on waiting for THEIR CAPTAIN. They referred to this captain as she and her."

Galvin scratched his head again to his captain's chagrin. "So what's wrong with that exactl….." Galvin suddenly looked up and remembered bits and pieces of conversations of the boys had on their way up until this point.

_"We gotta wait here and regroup with the captain." _The captain was neither of the boys. They had to wait for their captain.

_._

_._

_._

_"Haven will catch up!" _The supposed captain….his name was Haven!

_._

_._

_._

_"I'm worried about Haven. I can't see her finding her way around here."_….Haven is actually a female?

Galvin's eyes zoned out as he finally understood what was going on. "SIR! THAT KID TRICKED ME! HE PULLED SOME BULLSHIT OUT HIS ASS TO TRI-"

"I KNOW THAT SAINT GALVIN!" The captain yelled at Galvin.

"So her other name is Iena…" Galvin started. The captain face palmed at his subordinates stupidity.

"It's safe to say that if this kid was smart enough to figure out a way to trick you, he's probably smart enough to know that the girl isn't here!"

"B-but, that could just mean I got some information wrong? We could still have her!"

"NOOO! THINK YOU MORON! HE NOT ONLY WENT AFTER FACTUAL INFORMATION IN SLIPPING YOU UP! THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE HE DID TO GET THE TRUTH OUT OF YOU!"

* * *

**Inside of the Volcano (4 hours 35 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"I don't get it," said Sickland. He just heard Buckley's explanation. They were speaking lowly to avoid having their conversation picked up on. "Even if you did make him slip up like that, maybe he just has her but doesn't real- oh…." Sickland smiled as he finally understood.

Buckley smirked. "Haven would never let someone believe she wasn't the captain. The moment that idiot bought that I was the captain was the moment he messed up. It didn't help that he said she was screaming for help. That's not like her. And plus, he didn't deny the false name. Isn't it natural to interrogate hostages? I think the _we want your sword thing,_ was just an excuse to get us in here."

Sickland marveled at how smart Buckley was, and how much information he managed to gather from a statement! Not a question! "I guess this means we're trapped in here for nothing," Sickland said in a depressed tone.

"Not so," said Buckley. Buckley let his chest puff out as he stood up straight and confidently for the second time since Sickland knew him. "We can turn this trick into a positive."

"How?" Sickland was curious. It seemed like Buckley was way smarter than he was all of a sudden.

"Those guys described Haven right? That means two things. One, they have some way to monitor people in here somewhere, and two, they couldn't do a damn thing to catch her, so they may not be as powerful as we thought. That's good news for us. We can use their monitoring system to find Haven, and those mics to communicate with her, and Nine Wolf, since he's probably with her. We just need to fight our way to the area they use to monitor things."

Sickland smiled. "That's a good idea, but they still have traps, and probably a lot of guys waiting to kill us. And how will we get out?"

"We have the advantage. Since those traps and Longer failed to kill us, they'll personally ensure our deaths by having a superior officer confront us. He'll probably ambush us at some point where they ask you to present your sword to a guard or something so we will be weaponless. They don't know that we know it's a definite trap. We'll take this officer hostage and use him as leverage to get into the security room. He can lead us and we can intimidate him into giving us the way to get out." Buckley said.

Sickland liked this idea. But he decided to play a pessimist and point out some things. "I think that pirate wouldn't really cooperate with us. You know how they can be rowdy. And even if he did, suppose the other pirates don't care enough to help him out?"

"Then we'll use him as a meat shield," Buckley simply said as he walked forward. Sickland watched his back for a while and jogged to catch up. "We better hurry. I'm sure that idiot can't be the one in charge. Sooner or later, someone smart is going to find out about his screw up and alert everyone."

* * *

Author's Note: Chapter 18 will be up tomorrow. I'm sorry about the slow one chapter a day rate, but I'll try to push out two chapters tomorrow, or make them one big chapter. I have up to Chapter 29 saved on my computer, so I have to take time to come up with new material and make sure there are no plotholes. As always, review and critique!


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: Chapter 18! Why are all my updates late? Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Inside the Volcano (4 hours 40 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Buckley and Sickland walked through the Oasis on their way to the stairs that would lead them to the upper levels. Sickland, the pessimist of this saga rather than Buckley, decided to ask another question.

"Suppose the room where they monitor stuff is hidden somewhere in this desert place? Then we would be heading for the stairs for nothing?"

Buckley sighed. Sickland kept asking his skeptical questions and giving him a headache. "I can't see any kind of building that could be an outpost, and it's not likely they would keep a security detail on the bottom floor. With the complexity of those traps and this architecture, they must be more like a team of scientists and engineers, more so than pirates. I think there may only be a few actual pirates, and they won't have them at risk on ground floor where a majority of the traps are."

"So they're somewhere on the upper level. I can see the stairs now somewhat, so I guess we're getting closer. This place really is like an Oasis paradise," said Sickland as he looked around admiring the environment. Buckley suddenly stopped and smacked his hand onto Sickland's chest. "OOMPH! Hey! What was that f-" Buckley smacked his other hand onto Sickland's mouth and pointed to the right by about 60 degrees. Somewhat in sight to Sickland was a moving silhouette. The person (or thing) had the high ground and was coming off of a hill toward them. Buckley could see a lot more clearly. It was a person. And it seemed like that person was heading specifically for them, almost like he could see them as clearly as Buckley could see him.

"Get your sword ready," Buckley warned Sickland. Sickland nodded and reached over his back to tightly grip the hilt of Respira. Sickland's ears twitched suddenly as he heard something.

* * *

**Inside the Volcano (4 hours 40 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Realize had been walking for about 5 or 10 minutes now in the direction of the stars. He estimated that he would have to walk another 10 or 15 minutes. Honestly, if he just sprinted casually he could get there in about 3 or 4 minutes, but he really wanted to dwell on how he would rip apart the speaker.

'Unruly huh?' he thought as he walked with his head down. 'Well he said it himself. I've been trying my hardest to be cordial at all times, than this guy's gotta run his mouth, OF COURSE. It'll be fast. I'll take his head off and bring it to the captain as a prize or something. Zone's a dead man. Dead. I'll kill him. Seriously. Waste of my damn…..UNRULY? SERIOUSLY!' Realize's thoughts were becoming increasingly more violent as he looked up and saw a figure a good distance ahead of him.

"Eh?" He said as he squinted to see and reached slowly along his belt to pull out a knife. He stopped when he remembered that the voice said they would be non-hostile….at least for now. "OI! WHO ARE YOU? LEAD ME TO YOUR CAPTAIN!" Realize yelled in the direction of the figure. It slowly turned around and slowly walked towards him. Realize frowned as he realized that it would take a while for his supposed guide to get close enough for them to have a real conversation, so he broke out into a sprint and yelled towards it.

"HEY! STAY RIGHT THERE I'LL CATCH UP WITH YOU AND YOU CAN JUST LEAD ME T-" Realize barely got his words out before the ground shifted around the figure and the land directly before him. In a split second the far figure was instantly before him, and Realize could see that the figure was actually a metal giant. Said giant also had a large whip in hand. The whip was also coming down in Realize's direction.

THWIPPPP! The whip made a loud cracking sound as it flew through the air en route to Realize's face. Realize grimaced as he realized (pause) that he had absolutely no chance of dodging an attack at this speed while he was running so blindly and awkwardly.

"Tch."

* * *

**Inside the Volcano (4 hours 45 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Buckley, I just heard something." Sickland said as he still gripped his sword. Buckley slowly removed his hand from Sickland's mouth and looked toward him.

"What?"

"Someone was yelling a distance away. Something about catching someone. I think that thing off in the distance is a guard, and there's more of them trying to catch us!" Sickland yelled at Buckley. He suddenly heard a loud crack and his ears twitched in response.

"You mea-" Buckley couldn't get his words out before the ground in front of them shifted and a 12 foot metallic giant was immediately before them. The two looked up in horror and surprise as they struggled to react. Sickland fumbled to pull his sword out and Buckley dove to the right. The giant had a large whip in his hand and he swiped quickly toward Sickland's face. Sickland managed to get his sword out awkwardly enough to somewhat guard himself. His sword took the brunt of the blow, but the force from the swing was so great that it managed to send flying back 20 or so feet into a nearby water spot.

Meanwhile, Buckley landed in the sand softly and scrambled back up to his feet to dodge another fast swing. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near as fast as Sickland, so he was launched into the air about 20 feet, and came crashing down on his back in the sand. There was a large gash on his side, and most of the clothing material there was slashed completely off. He felt the burning sensation come to his right side as he instinctively placed his right hand on it. He could feel small amounts of his blood leak out. He tried to stand up, but he found he was much too weak to do anything. There was some kind of drug in the whip, and it was affecting his nervous system. He looked up to see how close the giant was too him. It was still at the same place it had struck him from and lumbered slowly toward him. Very slowly. It was hard to believe that something that could strike so fast was so slow.

'It used that land shift back there to move toward us at an unbelievable speed. That shift from earlier….is that thing the one that shifted everything from before?' Buckley thought as he watched the iron giant get closer. He struggled with all his might and turned on his belly to drag himself away from it. At the speed it was moving, he could probably keep good distance if he could manage to keep this up, but sooner or later it was going to use it's shift ability to close the distance and finish him off. Buckley thought it was torturing him. It let him drag himself up until the behemoth reached his landing spot. Buckley saw the ground in front of him stir as the land shifted and the monster appeared before him. He closed his eyes.

THWIPPPP!

* * *

**Inside the Volcano Realize's perspective (4 hours 50 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Realize stepped roughly on the metal giant's…..corpse? Or was it more like his nuts and bolts or something like that? Realize hated when he couldn't find the right word to describe what was going on. Regardless, he stepped over it and pulled out his knife. He had already beaten it before he used his knife, but he figured he would check up on his throwing aim. He hit bullseye right where it's would be if it were human. He continued on his walk toward the stairs as he swiped some dust off of his duster (pause).

* * *

**Inside the Volcano Buckley and Sickland's perspective (4 hours 50 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

As the whip came crashing down, Sickland's sword came flying up. Sickland managed to cut cleanly through the thick leather whip, and he followed it up by thrusting his sword into the now defenseless giant's stomach. Instead of penetrating as Sickland wanted, it scrapped and clumsily slashed the creatures front as it went into the sand. This didn't discourage Sickland as he used another dose of adrenaline to reinforce his power and slash again. This time the cut was deeper, and wires showed inside of the giant. The land rumbled under the giant and Sickland, and he jumped back to avoid being shifted somewhere. Buckley looked around and saw that the giant completely disappeared. He felt the numbing agent wear off, and he stood to his feet alongside Sickland.

"Thanks for the save man. I thought I was dead." Buckley thanked Sickland. Though he was casual about the save, he owed Sickland a sea of debt.

"No problem…..was that the thing you were talking about?" Sickland asked Buckley.

"What do you mean?"

"You said something about how the land shifted and a forest replaced another forest back there. Was that what that thing did?" Sickland turned and looked at Buckley. He noticed the gash and started to say something about it until Buckley held his hand up.

"It's probably that thing. It must have a devil fruit ability or something. That's good news for us since there can only be one of those right? Only one person can have a devil fruit ability at a time right?" Buckley asked as he pulled up his sash at an angle to cover the gash.

"Yeah, from what I understand. But how did that thing eat a devil fruit?"

"I'm not sure, but you've managed to put it on it's last leg. We can probably take it out the next time we see it, so long as we watch out for the ground quake that occurs when it shifts. When it moved an entire area earlier, there was no warning sign, but it seems like when he uses it he has a tell. It's really slow in movement, too slow to catch us off guard otherwise." Buckley secured the sash and stumbled at forward at first, before falling into a steady walking pattern.

"Are you sure your okay?" Sickland asked.

"Yeah, it's just a flesh wound. Let's hurry up those stairs and keep an eye out for that thing. No way a crew can have a member more valuable than him. If we beat him, we should win."

* * *

**Inside the Volcano Security Room (4 hours 55 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

The captain felt his face twitch. This was unbelievable!

"SAINT GALVIN!" The captain called for his incompetent first mate. Galvin stumbled into the room with a cookie in hand. He was on his lunch break.

"Yes sir cap'n!"

"Will you take a look at this," said the captain as he pointed at the security screens. Of the 30 or so screens that adorned the wall on this side, he was referring to the two in particular that showed 3 very alive people. Galvin frowned.

"I-" Galvin began before he was cut off by the furious captain.

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID BOTH OF THOSE PROTOTYPES LOSE!"

"Why….I…uh…"

"Um," said a technician on the other side viewing the monitors, "I think that was Clovert's job to see to the lateral and forward movements of the prototypes….so it couldn't have been Galvin's fault sir."

Galvin smiled a million watt smile at the subordinate. He guessed he wouldn't kill him now. The captain saw differently.

"…Didn't you kill Clovert?" Galvin's face visibly drooped. "…yes now that I think about it, your the one that killed Clovert…you killed a good engineer for what reason Saint Galvin? WHAT DAMN REASON!" The captain was furious. This was not looking good for him. He had tried to take out the pests and Realize in one fell swoop, but both parties managed to overcome the prototypes, with minimal injuries. Hell, Realize had NO injuries of any sort. But even so, at the very least if Clovert was alive to have made the modifications, the prototype could've at least killed those kids!

The captain aimed a finger at Galvin. "Your going to suffer for this. You've been a burden for far too long."

"No…please…sir….reeducate what your about to do!" Galvin said. The captain smiled at the last time he would have to put up with the crap Galvin said. As he took a step toward his doomed subordinate, the ground he was at shifted backward.

"Wha-" The captain said as he stumbled. There was a clear hole in the floor, since it had been shifted over.

"We don't really need to kill people to teach people that killing people is wrong right?" A man slowly emerged from the hole as the ground lifted under him and stopped in place to fill the hole. The man wore dark sunglasses, a white t-shirt with a peace sign, and blue faded pants, complete with sandals. He had a light brown beard and brown hair with streaks of gray.

The captain frowned at his accomplice's appearance. "He's my subordinate Zone, and I'll deal with him how I see fit!" said the Captain.

Zone smiled at the captain. "Well that's true, I just don't see the point in killing him when he can be of use to us. With your hypnotism and my ability we can be a formidable duo but we need slaves, Captain Daverio."

The now named Captain Daverio adjusted his tie as he stood up straight, cane in hand. "This buffoon, I'll have you know, just ruined our chance to capture and eliminate the Blood Contract Pirate Realize. He ruined our chance to shine because of his one shining moment of ignorance! This is why you don't allow others to use your ability Zone! While it's true you can bestow it to others at will, does not mean you should do so! This idiot here managed to use it to destroy two expensive projects!" Daverio yelled as he said this, looking toward Galvin. Galvin shivered.

"That all matters very little. Realize, and those two boys you seem to be after, are not crucial for the plan. Project Zone begins immediately! Ooh and did I mention that there would be a live broadcast to top it off?" Zone smiled a wide cheshire grin.

"Project Zone…..? You can't mean….."

* * *

Author's Note: Cliffy : o Read and critique as always!


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Chapter: Chapter 19!  
**

**This is a chapter in which I take the time to clarify, and explain some things that may be a bit confusing up until this point. To make it much cooler than it has to be, I'll do it in a Q&A kind of way. And Chapter 20 is coming within the next two hours, so please check back in to read that as well. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

**Q: How exactly does Nine Wolf's power work on humans?  
**

Nine Wolf's DF is called the buoy buoy no mi. It allows him to manipulate density, buoyancy, and displacement. His power can be used in a multitude of ways, but let's go to his main usage of it: moving watercraft and launching people. Earlier, I referred to his offensive attacks against humans as "sinking" them. He creates an artifical tank of water around his opponent using the water in the human body. Granted, the water does not actually leave their body, but in a sense he manipulates the water in them to such a degree that it might as well be. He makes people denser than the water so that they will naturally sink. He sinks them at such a high speed in his imaginary tank, that they are catapulted out of the "tank." Thus the cannon fire noise it makes.

**Q: Ok someone knows a little science, but answer this one jerk: How does his ability work on boats and stuff? I thought DF users were powerless against the ocean? And how do boats move just cause he can affect density?**

That's an easy question. His power does not technically make him touch the water. Rather, he alters some of the properties of it. His powers are weakened by the salt in the sea, so a bigger ship, which has more salt water around it, will be harder to move. To move boats, he changes the amount of water that is displaced to raise the boat on the water. Sorta like the opposite of his "sinking." And since he can control the direction of the sinking, he can naturally control the direction of the floating. I can't provide any more details, as I want to slowly show Nine Wolf's full capabilities.**  
**

**Q: Why is that girl named Steadcock? Is she important? Or an ass pull?**

Steadcroak. And, I would say slightly. Her name is important to Nine Wolf's, Yvette's, and Aloe's pasts. Again, in future chapters, all shall be revealed.

**Q: Speaking of Aloe, is she a lesbian or what? Is Haven a lesbian? Yvette?**

I tried to make it obvious Aloe is a lesbian. I tried to portray her as a over-the-top one, but I understand that all lesbians are not maniacs. Thus, I have Yvette as a foil. Hint hint. And as for Haven, no.**  
**

**Q: Ok, how the heck does the island time/shift thing work? I'm confused, and I have no idea why you keep putting that time crap for every scene! Explain yourself!  
**

My, I'm getting quite hostile with myself. The time is crucial to a mystery that will begin brewing in Chapter 20. I wanted the reader to be aware of the time so that he/she can try to solve the mystery along with this fine cast of character. The island shifts? Again, they are part of the mystery. All I can say is that there are four main forests. The Coga forest, The Dade forest, The Rurok forest, and a fourth forest. They are shifted in a pattern that will soon be explained.**  
**

**Q: Ok, not bad with the answers pal. Is it a volcano or a cave, and why is there a desert or oasis or whatever the hell you put in it? Is the captain there Zone or some other guy? How can he see everyone?**

**Too many questions me! I only have time to answer two. Volcano, and cause oasis' are cool bro.  
**

**Q: Romance? When do the pairings come in? You promised romance!  
**

I wanted to have a realistic romance going. One that takes time, and is not love at first sight. Now that I've got my action fix, and some character development, I can focus on the relationships a bit. There will be a couple of pairings, and I intend to have them build up slowly, with just enough fluff, humor, and daring rescues to make it more dramatic.

**Q: When will this story end?**

I intended for this story to go 50 or so chapters, but depending on readership, I would be willing to go further. The story will conclude after all of these conditions are met:

-The fate of the Brave Luck Pirates

-The past of Luffy, and Pirate King Zoro

-The fate of the I Dodici Sovrani and Shichibukai

-The fate of the pirate world

* * *

**Well that does it for this brief Q&A section! If there are any more questions, please feel free to ask them. As I stated earlier, I hope to have chapter 20 within 2 hours, but if not, tomorrow at the latest. **


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: Chapter 20! A pretty big chapter with explanations on Zone and Daverio's abilities, and we finally go back to Haven and Nine Wolf! Thanks for reading!

* * *

**Inside of Zone's Volcano (4 hours 56 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"…..Your going to start it so soon?….but….we still have work to do here…." Captain Daverio was surprised at Zone's haste. They had agreed to put off the project for quite some time. He raised his arms up in hopeless frustration. His cane was dangling in his hand.

"Believe me, I've wanted to work here for a little while longer, but things have a way of….changing, fufufufu…" Zone seemed to find all this funny. Daverio frowned. All the time they had invested on their studies on this island, all the fear they had instilled into the islanders for the sake of those studies, all that was left undone…and Zone just laughed about it.

"Give me a real answer! Why are you doing this? Your going to just start Project Zone? That would mean we would have to evacuate too right? And I can't have you attacking all those people! They're currently affected by my hypnotism! I'm trying to study the effects of pro-" Daverio said as Zone held up a hand to cut him off.

"Your research means nothing. You are using only one group as the basis for your study. You have a long way to go before you are even close to calling yourself a scientist." Daverio clenched his fist and tightened his hold on his cane. Zone looked at his change in body language and decided to lighten up a bit. "I do appreciate all the work your crew has done to advance my ambition, but the deal was you would help me and I would help you, until I was ready to move on. But I didn't exactly say that I was going to move on did I? I'm moving to phase two."

While Daverio felt insulted, he also felt a wave of curiosity. 'Phase two?' he thought to himself. "What do you mean by phase two? I thought you were simply here to test the stress of humans when put in a threatening situation, while simultaneously investigating the tectonic plates and terrain of this island?" Zone laughed at Daverio's ignorance.

"Your ability to alter the perception of humans helped me to keep the islanders here for quite some time under several misconceptions…..do you seriously believe I had you do that merely so I could do a test on human stress? No, there's a real reason why I did this," Zone said.

Daverio furrowed an eyebrow. "Real reason?"

"Come on your smart. The real reason is a mix of the excuses I gave you. Studying human stress. I'm actually studying humans, but not exactly the stress in them. And tectonic plates-or should I say the materials more so. Come one Daverio, even your subordinate gets it."

Daverio turned to Galvin. Galvin was completely lost. Daverio felt like an idiot for not guessing what Zone was getting at. He finally exploded after silently thinking for a couple more minutes. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? HOW CAN THOSE TWO THINGS EVEN RELATE! WHAT WAS THE REAL REASON!"

Zone smirked. 'This Daverio man isn't as smart as I thought he was.' Zone spoke. "Do you remember when we took this island hostage?"

"It had to have been…..exactly 2 months ago. Some of the islanders believe it's been days, or weeks, or even years longer."

"Not true. The people of this island have managed to make contact with one another since I let up on the shifts and switched to the new pattern. After doing several physicals, the doctors of this island believe it's been a year and a half. I learned this information when I disguised myself and visited Freedom's Landing."

"How would they come to that conclusion? It HAS actually been only 2 months!"

"That leads me to my first point. I'm studying humans," Zone said. "I've managed to alter how the human body ages through the use of an element. I slightly sped up the aging process on all the humans on this island. Just as I thought, the doctors think they have an approximation on the time, when they truly have no clue."

Daverio blinked as his jaw dropped. "Sped up aging? I thought you only had the ability to manipulate the time and position of terrain! Is this age acceleration a chemical agent you've released or something?"

"I'm lost. Chemical agent? Aging? Time of terrain? I'm confused," said Galvin as he frowned. He was completely lost from the entire conversation. Daverio hated to admit it, but he sympathized with Saint Galvin for once.

"I'll explain once for the both of you. Everything. Pay attention," said Zone. Daverio and Galvin stood straight and looked to him. "My devil fruit, tec tec no mi, allows me to alter tectonic plates, and the materials that exist in and around them. I can rapidly age the plates in a sense, and when I do this, they naturally shift, as though years of change actually happened. This island, Larrigo, is ideal for my ability, since this island has, for the past millennia, been stuck in the same place. It will rotate, rather than separate. That is how I move entire areas to and fro. I thought you and your crew would've figured this out after I shared some of my power with you. Are you with me so far?"

Galvin and Daverio nodded. They thought that they could just move things wherever they wanted. This full explanation was better.

"This power is not limited to terrain. Anything that possesses material from the lithosphere can also be affected…." Zone looked toward Daverio.

"Ah!" Daverio exclaimed. He finally understood.

"…Eh?" Galvin was wondering what the realization was.

"Saint Galvin it's quite simple," said Daverio. who was back to his confident condescending self. "He uses elements in the lithosphere to influence the artificial aging. Some of those elements exist in other things, such as human beings or den den mush's. That's how he used his power to eliminate communication and age the people on this island. But I'm guessing his power is somewhat limited." Daverio turned to Zone to explain further.

"Fufufufufu, exactly, Captain Daverio! The main element I alter is magnesium. It's an element that is necessary in the human body. It can manipulate human DNA, and I exploit this to influence aging in living things. And correct again Captain, there is a limit to my power. I cannot age living things as quickly as I can the terrain. In 2 months time, I only managed to age the islanders under my 24/7 influence around a year and 183 days."

'So that's what he meant by a mixture of both. Studying humans, and tectonic plates…..but wait?' Daverio thought with his head down. He looked toward Zone and spoke. "Wait. So your not studying human stress, and your not studying tectonic plates correct? But rather your studying the aging process at an accelerated speed? Well right back at you Mr. Scientist, your as close minded as I am. YOUR only using one group as the basis for your study!"

"Fufufufu…not true, Captain Daverio. I have two groups, a control, and several other factors."

Two groups caught Daverio's attention. "Two groups? I don't get it you….." realization finally dawned on him.

"Yes my boy. I'm doing a comparison. You used that ability of yours two months ago right? What do you propose is different from then? Or should I say who?

Daverio knew already. "Nine Wolf was present two months ago. Your powers affected him too, but he left the island. He must be one of the people that came here today. Unlike group 1, which would be all the islanders, he was not here the entire length of time. He left your influence and explored for a bit. Your trying to see the range and duration of your powers out of your proximity."

"FUFUFUFU!…..you pick up quickly Captain….but that's not the only reason. There's more to him…and I need his body to learn further. Thus, the hastening with Project Zone. But did you just say ONE of the people that came back? I sensed Nine Wolf's presence of course."

"Three others arrived with him, but they were separated. Two of them are resistant to the effects of devil fruit because of large amounts of sea water in them and they are currently in this Volcano, and one other is steadily fighting the effect somehow."

"Two of them are resistant? And in the Volcano?" Zone was upset as he spoke.

"Well, we lured them in because we didn't want them causing an inconsistency with the hypnosis and break it…we've taken steps to eliminate them. In addition, one other individual is in the Volcano. This individual is from the Blood Contact Pirates and is subject to our control, since he was here when we started two months ago," Daverio said.

Zone sighed. "Well we can't miss a golden opportunity like this. We'll eliminate the three trespassers at our leisure. ID them based on any names you've heard and pictures. This would have been a hold up, but instead we'll use their presence to create a particularly nasty experiment on the entire populace. This has given me a great idea….." Zone smiled in a cheshire grin.

"What nasty experiment?" Galvin asked. Daverio was also curious.

"Why, a test on human stress. Raise the hidden monitor in Freedom's landing and ready the PA system. We have an announcement….and a choice to offer…fufufufufufu!"

* * *

**Freedom's Landing Council Hall (5 hours 10 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"I've been gone for a year and a half!" Nine Wolf exclaimed loudly to everyone seated at or near the table in the small conference room.

Haven looked at Nine Wolf's rapid expression and stifled a laugh. This was the first time she laughed since they sat in the room. Everyone around her was talking weird. Like they were in slow motion or something. It felt like an hour passed to her, but the way they talked it seemed like they thought only 5 or so minutes passed. Something was strange.

Yvette sighed. This was going to be a lot for her brother to take in. "Yes, our doctors have found that anyone on this island at the time Zone took over became subject to his power. We were hoping you wouldn't have been affected but you were since you believe you've been gone for two months."

Nine Wolf sat back in his chair. 'These people have been subject to this madman for over a year now…? Where was I! What the hell was I doing up until now!' Nine Wolf thought as he slammed his fist onto the table. Yvette could see that her brother was crushed by the fact that he didn't help them in this time.

"It's fine Se-Nine Wolf. You couldn't have possibly known. You were affected as well." Yvette tried to soothe her brother.

"Am I weird too now?" Haven asked. Aloe flashed her eyes over Haven as she spoke and became slightly aroused at Haven's innocent (yet dumb) question.

"Weird? You mean affected? Well yes, I believe you would be. No ships have come to this island in a while, so we don't know what happens to people that just appeared, but it's likely you are now afflicted." Yvette answered Haven.

"No ships have come? But this is an island based on trade! A ship from Gretty comes here once a year, and it's our biggest import! How did it not get here?" Nine Wolf asked Yvette.

"Zone must have done something. We've definitely been here a year and a half, so it came, but somehow didn't make it." Yvette silently prayed that the ship and it's crew were alright.

Haven made a face. "I don't think I'm weird at all. I think everyone else is weird! You guys talk every 5 minutes and it feels like forever to me!"

Nine Wolf scowled at Haven. "Be polite Haven girl! Just because things aren't exactly moving at the pace you want, doesn't mean you can just insult people! We've been here a total of like 2 or 3 hours and you keep complaining!"

Haven frowned at Nine Wolf. "I think it's been longer. I think I've been here forever," she said as she crossed her arms angry. Aloe liked the passion behind her movements.

Yvette turned to Haven and asked, "wait, what do you mean? How are you perceiving things exactly?"

"Well, we've been in this room for like an hour, but when you guys speak its really slowly and kinda weird so I don't know if someone will talk back to someone saying something about some-" she paused thoughtfully as she slightly confused herself.

"Could it be th-" Yvette began before a blaring sound rung through the air. Everyone in the council room covered their ears as the sound continued and a voice boomed over a mic somewhere.

**"ATTENTION! AN ISLAND WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE VIA VIDEO AND AUDIO! ALL THOSE IN FREEDOM'S LANDING PLEASE STAND OUTSIDE TO RECEIVE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR ZONE!"**

**"ATTENTION! AN ISLAND WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE VIA VIDEO AND AUDIO! ALL THOSE IN FREEDOM'S LANDING PLEASE STAND OUTSIDE TO RECEIVE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR ZONE!"**

"What in the world, Nine Wolf began as he rushed outside. The others in the council room soon followed him. They all stood on the balcony of the council building looking around outside as the message continued to blare. After 20 more seconds, a double sided large screen slowly emerged from the ground. It lit up, and several people gasped as a face emerged onto the screen.

* * *

**Island-wide announcement (5 hours 20 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"**Fufufufu. Is this thing on? Testing one-two….three? So the main screen is up in the city and the mics for the surrounding towns? ….Ah it is on. If you idiots hadn't skewered that Clovey guy he could've done this. Ahem. This is Zone and I have a urgent announcement to make. Before I make the said announcement, I would like to thank the fine people of Freedom's Landing for forwarding my decision on the fate of this island, in particular Yvette Bastion! She's the one who organized the foolish Anti-Zone coalition, so who better to thank? In addition I have to say a thanks to the pirate Nine Wolf for his return to this island! He also had a hand in the research I've been conducting, and his physical body is of value to me, since I need to study the changes that have likely occurred since the planting in his body! Which reminds me of the real reason why I've waited to tell you about the announcement!"**

The voice pauses.

"**…..I am undergoing Project Zone, set to begin immediately. This was supposed to be a covert, yet mass assignment that would eliminate all life on the island, but due to a certain circumstance that's come up, I have to hold up on it. Fortunately for you, this hold up can become permanent if two conditions are met. Nine Wolf the Pirate is to be brought to me, alive more or less, and he MUST be in a stable condition. If there is too much damage to his person, I will refuse and continue with Project Zone. In other words, Nine Wolf will have to come to me willingly. I am not a man that would break his word, so when I have Nine Wolf, preferably caught in sea stone, in my control, I will move onward and release the island. If not, I will use my abilities to cause catastrophic damage to Larrigo and annihilate it's inhabitants. If you think I'm bluffing, then by all means, don't bring Nine Wolf. Since Yvette thinks it such a great time to strike, I'll agree with her. In two days time, Rurok forest will be shifted to a close proximity to Freedom's Landing. You have until then…..fufufufu….fufufufu"**

The voice continues to giggle maniacally until a loud laugh explodes from the den den mushi mics planted throughout Larrigo.

**"FUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!…But would I be fair to give you such an impossible task…? No, I've decided to give you an ultimatum. Three individuals are running amok on the island:**

**Realize of the Blood Contact Pirates**

**Eagle Eye Bucket of the Nine Wolf Pirates**

**Timothy Sickland the Wanderer. Also of the Nine Wolf Pirates.**

**The capture of these three individuals will grant a pardon from death to the captor, and 200 select comrades. So by capturing these 3 persons, 600 can be saved! Capturing Nine Wolf will save all 600 as well. It's your choice. Send your hero to die to save yourselves? Unite with him to bring down the three heretics in time? Or attempt your vain coup? This will be amusing to watch! FUFUFUFUFUFU!**

* * *

**Inside of Zone's Volcano (5 hours 25 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Captain Daverio frowned at Zone as he finished the announcement. "You know those guys you said are wanted are all here in the Volcano right? Why would you tell those people to search in vain when they don't have a chance at finding them?"**  
**

"Simple. Throw things into chaos. The islanders would rather search for the 3 convicts rather than submit Nine Wolf. When they find this to be quite impossible, I wonder how they will turn on him? In addition, some of those pirates are in his crew correct? I wonder how the captain will view the manhunt...this is a test of survival at it's most natural level. And I look forward to seeing it...fufufufu!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Yes, a manhunt. Layers of complexity in this chapter. If you couldn't follow because I seem unorganzied, drop a review and help me help you! As always, read and critique!


	21. Chapter 21

****Author's Note: Buckley, Sickland, and Realize's POV. Thanks for reading!

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**Inside of Zone's Volcano (5 hours 10 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"Look! There goes the stairs! I think I can just leave you somewhere around here, while I go u-" Sickland was speaking to Buckley until Buckley cut him off.

"I'm going up there with you Sickland," Buckley said as he winced at the pain still coming from his side. He reached his hand toward the sash that was covering his "flesh wound."

Sickland sighed. He was worried about Buckley. It had taken them longer to get to the staircase than expected because of Buckley's injury. He didn't want to bring Buckley into further danger up the stairs, but rather hoped that he could just take it easy cleaning his wound in one of the springs around the oasis.

"Well if your sure, lets go ahead and get up there then. Do you think there will be another one of those things up there?"

"I don't think so…..that thing was definitely one of a kind…..like we guessed, it's probably a devil fruit user meaning that power is unique to him…and it wouldn't be fair in the big scheme of things if there were more of those," Buckley said as he chuckled (painfully).

Sickland smiled along as he helped Buckley get over a small dune on the way to the stairs. "That makes sense I guess…..I hear something!" Sickland released Buckley roughly (to Buckley's pain) as he looked around with his ears twitching. "Buckley can you see anything ahead?"

Buckley looked up for the first time in quite a while. He strained to look forward and around him. "My eyesight is still a bit blurry, but I don't see anything….did you hear something?"

"Yeah. It sounds like someone is walking on metal right now. I also heard someone talking to someone up ahead….if the stairs are metal, it's safe to say that whoever that was already got moving up!"

Buckley looked alarmed. "Is it that thing again?"

Sickland shook his head. "No. I first heard a voice about 60 meters away from the stairs and by the time I had you look to see, the person managed to get on the stairs! That behemoth from earlier couldn't move that fast unless it shifted!"

"Whoever that was managed to get all the way to the stairs in the time it took me to look up? B-but that only took a second…" Buckley said, as he realized he stuttered, a sign of being nervous.

Sickland's ears twitched as he looked up at the tube leading up 10 or so stories. "They've slowed down now. They had to get to those stairs in a hurry apparently…..perhaps something was chasing them?"

"I don't know," said Buckley, "but let's just get up those stairs as quickly as possible. I don't wanna know what they were trying to get away from."

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**Inside of Zone's Volcano, Realize's Perspective (5 hours 10 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

'Geez, I shoulda known better than to just waste time looking around this joint….place. I really need to work on my slang and pronunciations.' Realize thought as he walked towards the stairs again. He had wasted quite a bit of time just lollygagging. He trotted forward for a bit before yelling at himself.

"What the hell am I doing?" He yelled as he broke off into a sprint toward the stairs, full speed. In the blink of an eye he covered a great distance, and felt his lead foot land firmly on a metal step. He stopped and looked around. Just as Zone or whoever said, there was a magma pool right next to the stairway. He looked down at his shoes to see if he accidentally ran over it. He didn't.

"That's a stroke of luck," Realize said as he started to jog up the stairs at a leisurely pace. Just like the outside view of the tube he was now in, the inside was covered in grass. It felt like he was moving up a great grass tunnel, albeit there were sounds of metal being hammered as he moved upward. When he was about five stories off the ground, he could see a split off path that somehow was invisible from ground level. He looked toward it and decided to ignore it, when suddenly a voice came over the mic.

**"Uh uh."** The way further up the stairwell suddenly shut. Realize stopped and looked down the long hallway. His only option. Or so the voice thought. He got ready to break down the door when the voice came back.

**"That way up has been restricted. It leads to our scientist labs. Destroying that door will completely destroy the foundation of this staircase, leaving you with no other option up. Take the hallway to the other stairwell and move upward. Eventually you will meet up with your teammates for the game."** The voice was different from before. It sounded like a orderly woman was talking to him. He turned down the hallway when suddenly the door leading to the stairwell behind him shut. He looked down the hall to see that the door leading to the other stairwell was still open. He slowly walked down the hall on the way to the other stairwell.

'Maybe of the two stairwells, there was a safe path, and a dangerous path. I took the safe path, so they redirected me to the more dangerous one. Maybe I should go back and kick down those doors,' Realize thought. But then he started to grin. 'Well I guess I should at LEAST give them a fair chance to kill me.'

As Realize waled halfway down the hall, a figure came crashing down from the ceiling in the hallway. It landed before him, and Realize could tell it was a man. The man was a couple of inches taller than Realize, maybe 6'5 or 6'6, and had short brown hair that was stuffed into a cap that covered his eyes. The man had a sadistic grin on his face, and a heavy skewering mace in his hands.

"**Serge? What is the meaning of this? You-**" The voice started.

"SHADDUP!" The man called up to the mic, cutting the woman short. He turned to Realize. "You're that Blood Contact guy aren't you? You know, you really have the cap'n freakimyfying out up there!"

Realize raised an eyebrow at the brute's failure in language. "Captain? You mean Zone, Mr. Serge? Nice entrance by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Realize."

"GEHAHAHAHA! I already know exactly who you are dumb ass! I'm the most powerful pirate in West Blue, and I'm going to rip your head off!" The man reared his head back as he laughed, revealing his black, beady eyes.

"Ooooohhh….most powerful? Why confront me here then? I figured the most powerful guy would try to kill me when I got to the top. Cliches and all that." Realize smiled. He managed to articulately and sarcastically insult someone.

"Whu…..I….SHUT THE HELL UP! I'm the third most powerful on this island! I-"

"Ah the truth. No longer the most powerful in the sea, but the THIRD most on the island! Riveting-"

"SHUT UP! SERGE DE LA HOYA IS THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THIS HALLWAY! HOW ABOUT THAT? I'M GLAD I JUMPED THE GUN AND CAME DOWN HERE TO KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Serge was infuriated beyond all reason.

"Tch." Zone sucked on his teeth. This guy had a short fuse. And based on what he just said, he was supposed to wait to ambush Realize on a higher level. That proved it 200% that Zone was just trying to kill him. Probably so he could take his head and parade it for the government. Realize sighed. This meant that he would definitely have to kill Zone and his crew. "Your the most powerful man in this hallway? Hardly. I doubt I'll have to use any weapons to show you the truth."

"GEHAHAHAHAH! You're cocky as fuck guy. I guess that's to be expected from one of you stick up your ass Blood Pirates! I ain't stupid, I know that you got some gimmick to you, so I'm not gonna let you get the drop on me!" Serge said, as the ground beneath him shifted and he disappeared. Realize's eyes opened wider as the buffon before him suddenly disappeared.

"YARGGHHHHH!" Serge yelled as he swiped at Realize's head from behind him. Realize instinctively ducked and rolled out the way to observe Serge's face. He was giving a huge toothy grin. Realize's quick mind immediately went into analysis mode.

'Did he just disappear?' Realize thought. No not disappeared. He was far away from the creature that could do it in the oasis, but he could see clearly what just happened. As the ground shifted the man rapidly sunk into the ground and moved with it! Now he understood. The reason why he couldn't see the hallway from the ground level was because of a mirage of sorts caused by the oasis. That magma pool was close to the stairs for a reason! To deter someone from walking further ahead and walking into the invisible plateau or something. The tubes were covered in grass because they were still attached to whatever he was standing on.

"Clever bastards," Realize muttered as he saw Serge disappear into the ground again. Realize noticed that whenever he did this, a small disturbance would occur around the area he left, and where he intends to go. Realize concentrated and felt a slight vibration under him. He leaped back and, sure enough, Serge appeared again from the spot where he was standing, wielding his mace.

"GEHAHAHAHAHA! You ain't gonna beat me asshole! Not with this power I've got from Zone hisself!" Serge proudly proclaimed. Little did he know he was giving Realize more information every time he opened his mouth.

'So Zone can share his power? I've never heard of that before…devil fruit powers are supposed to belong to only one person in the world at a time!' Realize thought as he reached into his sleeve and threw a sharp dagger towards Serge. Serge noticed and tried to disappear, but Realize was too fast.

"ARGHHHHH!" The scream emitted by Serge was horrid as the dagger drilled into his side. "YOU DAMNNNNNNN….!" Serge disappeared again into the floor. Realize readied himself and looked around. As much as he hated to admit it, he might have to use THAT twice in the same day to deal with two low level grunts. This was embarrassing. After about 2 minutes of waiting, Realize released a slight amount of tension.

'Seems like he retreated,' Realize thought. 'That was serious. I need to stay on my guard. If that guy has the same power as Zone, there may be others. I've definitely got to get to the top now…' Realized slowly walked through the hallway as he looked left and right, preparing himself for any attack. He heard footsteps in the hallway, loud clanking metal. He stepped out into the hallway and…

* * *

**Inside of Zone's Volcano, Buckley and Sickland's POV (5 hours 16 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

Buckley and Sickland were jogging up the stairs.

"I'm telling you, we should've went the other way! They always have a dangerous path, and a safe path!" Sickland said as he jogged alongside Buckley.

"No way! You just said that some amazing guy went the other stairway, and the last thing I want to do is meet him! This way is the safe way either way you look at it!" Buckley yelled to Sickland. Sickland was about to retort when his ears twitched.

"I could hear someone yelling up ahead! I've been hearing muffled sounds for a while now, but most of the sound was being blocked out by us going up these steps and something kind of big!"

"Are they in the stairwell Sickland? Or at the top?"

"They sound close, but not in the stairwell, or it would echo! It's some kind of hidden room somewhere on the side!

"Hidden room? But we didn't see any more tubes hanging out the side, except at the top! Are you sure we aren't closer to the top than we thought?"

"SHHHHHHHH!" Sickland furiously whispered as he stopped moving. Buckley followed his lead and looked up. On the side of the stairs further ahead was a open pathway. It looked like another tube! Sickland crouched further. A man wearing a duster stepped out into the hallway and looked down the stairwell. He could see Sickland and Buckley looking at him. He called down to them.

"More of Zone's fine friends?" The man had a cool speaking voice, Buckley noted.

Sickland jumped. That was the voice of the man that had the terrifying speed! He was sure this guy had went the other way up!

"Zone? That's the name of this Volcano right?" Buckley said. "We aren't Zone's friends, as you may well know!"

The man looked confused. "Eh?" he said as he looked down at Buckley.

Buckley continued to talk as Sickland signaled to him to shut up. "You know damn well! You think we're gonna fall for another trick! We need a hostage, and I think you meet the bill!" Sickland couldn't believe Buckley's bravado! Especially at a time like this.

"Hostage? What? And who are you holding me hostage from? Do YOU intend to take me hostage!"

"No, that's why I have my friend here! He's a master swordsman!" Buckley yelled toward the man, smiling. He felt confident despite the fact that he was slightly hurt. Sickland was amazing! He could easily take this guy!

"Um Buckley….that's the guy I heard…" Sickland said weakly. The smile on Buckley's face slowly disappeared.

"….You mea-" Buckley didn't have time to finish his sentence before a blaring noise began playing in the Volcano and a alert came over the mic.

**"ATTENTION! AN ISLAND WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE VIA VIDEO AND AUDIO! ALL THOSE IN FREEDOM'S LANDING PLEASE STAND OUTSIDE TO RECEIVE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR ZONE!"**

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Author's Note: How will the new threesome react to the news? What about Haven? Review and critique!**  
**


	22. Chapter 22

Author's Note: Chapter 22 is up and at em with a **MEGA CHAPTER**! I'd like to thank all the reviewers up until this point, and I can assure you this fic will go longer than 50 chapters! I plan on going until I'm satisfied with the conclusion. Right now, I haven't decided how I'm going to end anything. Also, I have been looking into some of the errors in the story. I have someone proofreading the story for me, so from this point onward, let's hope I can avoid my worst enemy, "your," and "you're" (2 reviewers, and 3 private messages have brought up my tendency to do this). Thanks for reading!

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**Freedom's Landing Post Zone Announcement (5 hours 25 minutes after Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

This could not be happening. The large crowd that was in the middle of Freedom's Landing watched the end of the broadcast in complete terror. Zone had decided that he was going to wipe out all life on the island, and the only way to sate him was to offer up the legendary hero of the island, or track down 3 dangerous individuals in only two days time. No one stirred for quite a while. As the man's face left the screen, a cycle of the four wanted men appeared on screen. Two of the pictures were Marine photos, and the third was an awkward overhead shot of an almond brown man in a duster. And finally, Nine Wolf's wanted picture. Nine Wolf was lost as he stared at the images.

'Planted in me? What…my life or everyone dies? This….is a joke….?' Nine Wolf thought to himself. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. A demented man appeared on the screen and casually said that he would obliterate everyone on Larrigo, unless Nine Wolf or 3 others were basically sacrificed. To make it more unbelievable, two of the men that appeared on screen were his temporary comrades.

"…E…everyone stay calm…" Yvette finally said to no one in particular. The crowd barely moved at her words. Yvette felt crushed. All the effort she put into this coup against the self proclaimed Director Zone, and suddenly all her hard work and organization was flushed down the drain. This was too well timed. It was almost like Zone had an inside man. 'Of course he has a information line," Yvette thought, as she scolded herself. 'We've never seen this man before this point, so he could have easily have just wandered into my announcement. I knew I should've kept the information under wraps…..I just wanted to raise the morale….' Yvette felt her posture tighten. This Zone man was a step ahead of her. He destroyed everything with a panic. Even if he was bluffing, the islanders would heed his words, since he demonstrated such miracles already.

"…..What?" Haven looked up at the now blank screen, dumbstruck. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? "This can't be happening," she said quietly to herself.

Nine Wolf pulled his eyes from the screen as it descended into the ground, and looked toward Haven. She looked completely devastated. Probably because her entire crew (or the crew she thought she had) was now involved with a life or death bounty hunt. In addition to that, the fact that she could possibly die within two days time before she could even begin her trip on the Grand Line…... He didn't know what to say. "Haven….." he started.

"….Why do they…" Haven said again as she looked down towards her boots. "…Why?"

Yvette now turned to look at Haven. Even she could see a pained expression on her face. Nine Wolf attempted to say something "nice" again.

"Haven….it's fine….we can figu-"

"WHY DO THEY ALL THINK THEY'RE IN NINE WOLF'S CREW! THEY'RE THE BRAVE LUCK PIRATES!" Haven screamed out loudly to the crowd in front of her. People in the crowd fell out of their trance and turned toward her. Nine Wolf quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

"Shut up Haven girl! If they know that you know them, it'll make it all the easier for them to try to catch them!" He whispered loudly to her. Nine Wolf pulled his eyes from Haven to look at the crowd, or maybe mob would be a better word. They sure looked the part, with all the weapons that they had. Nine Wolf scanned through the crowd with his eyes. Some eyes were meeting him right back, with a hint of hostility. Luckily, he and his group were still on the balcony.

"…..EVERYONE PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! THIS IS AN EMPTY THREAT!" Yvette screamed down to the crowd. "HE KNOWS THAT WE CAN BEAT HIM, SO HE'S JUST TRYING TO MAKE US COLLAPSE WITHIN OURSELVES AND GIVE IN! THIS IS A BLUFF!" Yvette took in a breath.

Soon the crowd became alive with whispers and yells.

"A bluff? No way, this guy can do whatever he wants…."

"We don't have to take Nine Wolf! He can help us catch the other guys we have two days….."

"It's a lie…Zone can't rip the island apart…..if he could, he would've already…"

"Yvette is going to get us killed….."

"Maybe Nine Wolf will just give himself up…"

"I'm not turning into a savage to save myself…say does anyone know where that screen came from?….."

Whispers and rumors spread quickly through the people. Yvette could pick up scraps of conversation here and there, and she noticed a trend. People that were under the impression that they were only here for days or weeks, seemed to favor her view on things and showed less hostility. Those that were here for years in their minds were more violent. No, maybe a better word would be desperate. Soon like minded people began to drift toward one another. This was like a giant civil war was about to break out. All part of Zone's plan it seemed.

"SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO YVETTE? ARE WE GOING TO GO AFTER THE 3 PIRATES, OR WILL NINE WOLF SAVE US?" A man yelled up to the balcony. A bellow of cheers and agreement followed his words. Yvette didn't know if Nine Wolf's saving them was defeating Zone or sacrificing himself.

She raised her hands to quiet the crowd. The side that favored her listened, while the more aggressive side took a while to settle down. "We are collectively going to fight Zone together! We do not need to send anyone to him to die!"

"That's right, with Nine Wolf the Hero we can kill Zone!" A man on the gentler side yelled. Agreement followed his words. A man on the aggressive side shook his head.

"No way! That Zone guy can probably swallow us up in some hole or slow down time forever or something like that! Let's just take those pirate's heads! They're pirates for goodness sakes!" A louder agreement followed these words.

Yvette frowned. This was cowardly. No matter who you sacrificed, it was still a selfish sacrifice to offer someone to save yourself. "Suppose we can't find all of these men?" she asked. "Then what?"

A man answered loudly, "then we gotta save as many people as we can! If we can find one, we save two hundred! If we find two, 4 hundred! Or Nine Wolf can turn himself in!" The man's words were met with some silence. Sacrificing the legendary hero? These words bordered on blasphemy. But at the same time, some members of the crowd silently agreed with him. What kind of hero wouldn't give himself up to save 600 lives?

"He's right!" A woman boldly yelled. "Nine Wolf, you said you would give your life for this island! Was that a lie? What kind of man are you Nine Wolf!"

Nine Wolf looked down into the crowd and saw people pointing toward him with their weapons and whispering. He frowned. He didn't like people waving guns at him. These were nothing like the people of the island he once knew. Some of the islanders looked hardened and driven to fear. The woman that was challenging him now was once a little girl that he saved.

"That's true! He did say that! But what kind of people would you be to willingly offer someone up who loves this island unconditionally? To use your hero as a sacrificial lamb! That's the equivalent of offering your soul up! A life for 600 you say? No, I think in actuality Zone would be getting one life, and 600 souls!" Yvette yelled down to the crowd. This managed to shut up nearly everyone. She breathed harder as she became more furious with the woman and the man. Nine Wolf placed a hand on Yvette's shoulder and squeezed in a loving way as he took a step further.

"Listen to me!" Nine Wolf yelled down to the crowd. "It's true, I do love this island! And I would be willing to offer my life to stop Zone. But I can't be sure that my probable death would be enough to stop this madness! If you don't believe that Zone can destroy this island than you're already on my side! If you do, think harder! What's to stop him from ripping this island apart, AFTER he has me? I should've been here to help you all from the start, but I left this island in pursuit of my own ambition!" Nine Wolf held his head down solemnly as he thought about the regret sadly. He then lifted it back up and finished, "but that was then, and this is now! I will use all the strength I have to take down this Zone! If in two days time I haven't beat him, cuff me and take me away! One way or the other, I WILL SAVE LARRIGO! I LOVE THIS PLACE TOO DAMN MUCH, DRAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Nine Wolf's speech made the crowd burst into wild applause. The two split sides stayed separate, but clapped alongside each other as they all were overcome with awe for the selflessness that Nine Wolf displayed. He was truly a hero. Aloe looked at Nine Wolf. All she could see at the moment was the back of his head. He ran a hand through his brown hair, as he reared his head back and let out his laugh. 'Sebastian…..that idiot knows how to play the hero role so well.' Aloe pulled her eyes from Nine Wolf to Yvette. Yvette was smiling, proud of her brother's poise in a stressful situation. Aloe noticed how cute she looked in her mellow outfit, with that smile plastered on her face.

"Sebastian is something else….." Aloe said quietly to Yvette as she stepped behind her and placed a hand on her hip. Yvette slyly pulled away.

"Not now. We're in public. Let's talk in the building later. Right now we have to come up with something…" Yvette said to her. Aloe sighed until she remembered something. Or someone. She turned toward Haven, who was looking down at the crowd still cheering.

'Wow! …He's such a legend around here…..' Haven thought as she looked at all the people cheering for Nine Wolf. Nine Wolf really didn't seem like a pirate to her. He was more like a good guy or something. 'Maybe I shouldn't ask him about joining my crew anymore…he has a lot going for him here….'

Nine Wolf turned to the three woman and the remaining council members with him on the balcony. "Come on, we need to strategize. Can you need council people handle the people here, and inform them that I'm currently working on a plan? Haven, follow me and Yvette. Aloe, do something else." Nine Wolf walked through the balcony door, into the council meeting room, and through the door back out into the hallway. He heard three sets of footsteps behind him, so he knew all three women were behind him. If you could call Aloe that. 'Geez she's a headache,' he thought as he walked all the way back to the receptionist desk with the three tag-alongs. Steadcroak (the attractive one) was seated at her desk.

"Hello Nine Wolf sir! Um…I heard a loud disturbance outside, did anything go on? What was the announcement?" Maybelle Steadcroak asked as the hero walked by. Apparently she didn't go outside with everyone else. She always was one to stay focused on one task.

"It's nothing. Would you be so kind as to direct us toward lodging, and a quiet place to talk? The council building is getting a little hot, and we need to talk serious strategy Maybelle," Nine Wolf said with a handsome smile. Maybelle felt her cheeks tingle as she realized she was blushing. Sebastian had just called her Maybelle! Usually it was "Steadcroak" this, or "Steadcroak" that.

"Well, I-I live alone next to Motley's in the large green townhouse. It's four bedrooms, so I'm sure you and your escort can stay there for a time. Slip out the back door and just cut through the alley to avoid the crowd. Take my key," she said as she handed Nine Wolf the key.

"Thanks Maybelle! This means a lot!" Nine Wolf said as he beckoned his followers out the door. Before Haven left with the group, she stopped and told Maybelle, "your REALLY slow, you know that?" before being dragged out by Nine Wolf.

"I hope they're just his escort," Maybelle said quietly to herself.

* * *

"I don't care what they said, we still have to be sure!" The man roughly pushed his friend to the ground. The onlookers that were following the man doing the pushing swallowed as the other man crashed into the ground painfully. They were all in a back alley talking about what had happened just moments ago in city square.

"But Griff…Nine Wolf said he woul-" The man on the ground pleaded with his friend to no avail.

"Shut up! I know what Nine Wolf said! But I'm telling you, we can't be too sure of that can we! Nine Wolf is probably too strong for us to take down, so we gotta focus on taking those other pirates out! We gotta save ourselves, and as many people as we can Jerry!"

Jerry slowly stood to his feet. He wiped the dust off of him and slowly stepped into place with the rest of his comrades. There was no point in fighting Griff. He was a tall light skinned man, that had an intimidating mohawk, tight white muscle shirt, and ripped bell bottoms. The definition of cool. While Jerry was just small, fat, and balding. "I guess your right Griff." Jerry said sadly.

"Of course I'm right! This is just a little insurance! Nine Wolf offs Zone, or Zone offs us, unless we off those pirates! It's that simple! Just doubling our chances of getting out of this place alive. Everyone remembers their faces right?" Griff asked the rather large group. The group collectively nodded and Griff smirked.

"Then let's get pirate hunting."

* * *

**Inside of Zone's Volcano (5 hours 25 minutes since the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

All 3 men stood completely stock still as they took in the words they just heard. Buckley looked at Sickland, who was still looking toward the duster wearing guy, who was still staring at Buckley. Everyone froze from the time they first heard the alert, until it ended. Eventually, realization came to Buckley's mind.

"….wanted individuals? We're…..wanted individuals? Nine Wolf too?" Buckley said in a, _I can't believe this_, type of voice. While Buckley was still shocked, Sickland came to his senses.

"…Who's voice was that? Is that somebody in the Volcano?" The man in the duster heard him and answered his question.

"Of course it was someone in the Volcano…where else do they have these mics?"

Sickland scowled at the stranger. Although he was scared of him, he was just about fed up with people trying to make him feel ridiculous. "Then why did they announce a manhunt for us on the island? Surely if they are in this Volcano, they know we're in here! What would be the point in them calling a manhunt for guys that are right in their grasp!"

The stranger cocked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Aren't you with them? Are you guys involved with what he just said?"

"Why are you asking?" Sickland said as he gripped his sword tightly. He was ready to fight this fast guy just in case.

"Eh? Are you looking for a fight?" The stranger slowly reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out what appeared to be a stiletto. "I asked you if you're with them."

Sickland crouched ready to brace for an attack when suddenly Buckley stepped in front of him, still holding his side. "Buckley…." Sickland said as he watched Buckley look up to the stranger. The stranger could tell Buckley was injured and slowly slid his stiletto back into his pocket.

"You asked if we were with them? By them you mean the Volcano guy Zone and his goons right?" Buckley asked.

"That's right," the stranger said.

"Well it looks like you're kinda on our side. We aren't with Zone at all. As a matter of fact, we're trying to head up there now to fight him." Buckley said as he felt sweat form on his face. He heard the man say the words "with them," so he figured that this implied the man was an enemy of Zone's. If the man turned out to be with Zone, his words could've doomed them. Fortunately, the man completely relaxed, and even smiled a bit.

"Seems so. I'm headed up there now to kill Zone. You must be The Wanderer and the Bucket, huh?" The man asked Buckley and Sickland. Buckley felt himself getting irritated. Instead of calling Sickland "Timothy" and Buckley "Eagle Eye," he called them Wanderer and Bucket respectively.

"It would seem so. We haven't heard of these titles until now, so I guess we can assume that this Zone guy pulled this information from the Marines. He has a lot of advanced technology. Are you….Realize? The blood guy?" Buckley asked.

The man snickered. "Yeah, I'm Realize. But the question here is why are you in a dangerous place like this? You two look a bit young to be doing this."

Buckley and Sickland both frowned at his words. Realize looked a bit young himself. "We're here to take over Zone's cameras so we can find our friends!" Sickland yelled at Realize.

"Take over his camera's and find your friend? Ingenious, but one problem. Zone just said that he was going to rip this island apart, so even if you had found your friend, you wouldn't have been able to get off this island, and you and your friend would be dead anyway." Realize smiled. He intelligently mocked these two kids.

"Well, we didn't know that he was going to destroy this island until about 5 or 10 minutes ago, same as you." Buckley said to Realize. Buckley really didn't like this man.

Realize scratched his chin. Touche.

"Why are YOU here anyway?" Sickland asked. "What was your brilliant idea?"

"I came here to kill Zone, and end his weird Devil Fruit thing so I could get off of this island. He's managed to destroy all the ships along the coast by using his power to draw in rocks and spikes that ripped ships apart. On top of that, he changes what you perceive, so if you get close to the water to get out, you end up realizing (pause) that your just in a regular town."

Buckley and Sickland's eyes widened simultaneously. They had no idea that this man was capable of doing all of this. His powers effectively made him godlike in a sense.

"Let me get this straight," Sickland said as he turned his head toward Buckley. "He can teleport things basically, he can move the entire landscape, and he can control people's minds? What were you saying about being fair earlier?" Sickland's eyes were wide as saucers at the moment. This only made Buckley a bit more hysterical.

Realize laughed. "You two came here without knowing that? You're in for quite a surprise. And it doesn't really help that the one right there is already hurt…..he'll be ripped apart if you go any further. Weaponless too. Says a lot about what he's capable of." Realize was surprised with himself. He was much harsher than he feels he would usually be. probably because the two before him reminded him of a certain other twosome.

Sickland made a face at Realize. "You can keep thoughts like that to yourself! We appreciate the warning, but we can do this! We aren't afraid of Zone!" Sickland proudly said. His eyes were back to normal, and he maintained his composure.

"Look, I'm trying to be polite and warn you. But you can stick to your foolish notions all you want. That weakling with you serves as a weight to break for legs! You'd have been better off leaving him in the Oasis. I doubt you'd stand a chance either. That we can do it fabrication is a delusion. In real life, you just can't believe in yourself and win." Sickland felt his teeth grind as he was slowly angered by Realize's words. What made him angrier was the fact that he suggested the same thing earlier, for the same reason. He didn't want Buckley to get hurt, and he didn't want him to hold him back.

"Like I said, keep that to yourself!" Sickland said again. He was ticked off at Realize's heartless words.

"Zone is way beyond anything you could ever hope to face kid, especially if you had a naive plan like that. I'd just pray that I get out of here alive if I were you. If I lose, you're most likely done for anyway!" And with those closing words, Realize continued his rush up the stairs. Sickland noted that as Realize ran, he looked cautiously side to side, as though a threat could appear at any time. Sickland also noticed that Realize looked a little like Buckley, at least from a distance. Sickland looked at Buckley.

Buckley started to sweat profusely, and he felt the pain in his side all the more. This was a hopeless situation. Up until now, they were sure that they could overcome this man. They thought they could simply assume temporary control of his camera to find their captain and leave. It turns out they were going up against a demi god in a sense. This man was nearly all powerful, and they had little combat experience, struggled to fight two of his lackies, and were fatigued. Buckley had even managed to be completely defeated by a single stood absolutely no chance. Buckley let himself drop to his knees. His uselessness took a backseat in his mind to the fear that overcame him. He surely was going to die. But for the second time in his life, something overtook the fear. Regret. Since he was going to die, here, at Zone's godlike hands, he couldn't live up to Haven's expectations and be a splendid first mate. He wasn't even a first mate for a week, yet he was about to die. He failed his captain. Their was a manhunt out for him for one reason or another, and even off this island, he most likely had a bounty. There was nowhere to go. Realize pointed out how pathetic and weak he was. He had failed all his life. He was a complete and utter failure.

Sickland looked at Buckley's now quivering form. He was on his knees and holding his side with one had, while his other supported his weight leaning over with his head hanging down. His wild black hair was covering his eyes, and Sickland could tell it was taking everything Buckley had not to cry. That Realize guy really said all the wrong things. Sickland knew that Buckley had low self-esteem, but at times Buckley would seem so….confident. He was almost like a role model. It's hard to see someone you look up to look down upon themselves. Sickland kneeled down next to Buckley and placed a hand on his shoulder. He had no idea what they would do next. The whole plan they had was completely null and void now. Even if they did manage to sneak in and take over the cameras, Zone had everyone on the island trapped, and he was going to destroy it in two days. The only way to prevent that would be for the three of them to get captured, which would lead to their demise. This was truly a hopeless moment. Sickland sat all the way down as he looked up at the grassy ceiling in the stairwell. He thought about the one person that often made Buckley smile. The captain, Haven.

'What would Captain Haven do? What would she say?'

* * *

Author's Note: Sad Buckley : ( Yes I had to put in a Buckley breakdown at some point, and I like him so much that I didn't want to have to wait to torment him later on. Realize was a slight douche this chapter, but hey, it happens. Review and critique!


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note: Chapter 23. Sorry no mega chapter this time, but I do intend on having another chapter out later today. This chapter focuses mainly on Haven, Sebastian, Aloe, and Yvette. Thanks for reading!

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**Maybelle's Townhouse (6 hours after the Brave Luck Pirates arrived)**

"This is definitely one of the larger houses in the city. It makes you wonder how a receptionist for a near government organization could afford it?" Yvette speculated loudly to no one in particular. The group had recently entered Maybelle's home (or the temporary headquarters), and were busy touring it. It had a contemporary look on the inside, and it was about 3 stories tall. There were about a million bedrooms and bathrooms (in Haven's mind), and a rather large kitchen. A fireplace was in the living room, and Haven plopped down on the mantle, resting her sword next to her. The rest of the group sat on various furniture pieces. Aloe, torn between sitting near Haven and Yvette, decided to just somewhere in-between.

"This place is cool. I don't think that Steadcock deserves it though, she's so slow," Haven said. Nine Wolf suppressed a chuckle. Despite the fact that Haven managed to insult his friend twice in one sentence, he still found it fairly amusing.

"Watch what you say Haven girl. Maybelle doesn't have to let us use her home, so the least you can do is keep your comments to yourself. And don't leave that thing on treading the floor! Do you even clean that thing?" Nine Wolf spoke directly to Haven, who sulked at being scolded by Nine Wolf. Yvette smiled at the brief exchange, before turning her sight to Haven. She had a couple of questions to ask her.

"….Your name was Haven wasn't it?" Yvette asked Haven. Haven removed the scowl off her face and visibly perked up.

"Yes," she said with a nice smile on her face. She scratched at the hair that was exposed under the cap and looked at Yvette. "And your Nine Wolf's sister!"

"Well, yes…..I thought you already knew that."

"I thought you already knew I was Haven." Haven's face completely changed from happy-go-lucky to stone faced.

"….Well yes I di-" Yvette began.

"Then why did you ask if I was Haven?"

"….Wha…no it's just a way to start a conversa-"

"So you knew I was Haven?" Nine Wolf once again felt the urge to laugh. Usually, this waste of time caused by Haven would have pissed him off slightly, but since he now had all this pressure placed on him, he was glad for her humor.

"I see. I apologize Haven. I just wanted to speak with you about something. You mentioned something earlier before Zone's broadcast was made?" Yvette asked Haven. 'This girl might have something completely different going on with her.'

"Yeah. I said that the lady was slow, and that everyone is slow," said Haven, in a rather blunt matter. Yvette was starting to get used to the straightforwardness that Haven possessed.

"What exactly do you mean that we're slow? Nine Wolf made a comment while we were at the council building that you were complaining as though you've been here for quite a while. You also said that we were taking a really long time to speak with each other?" Yvette asked again.

"Uh huh. It feels like everyone drags out what they say, like it takes 5 minutes to say something that really takes a minute to say. It doesn't always happen, but whenever it does, it feels like a lot of time has passed by. It feels to me like it's night time and I hafta sleep," Haven said. This was probably the most useful thing she's ever said, at least from Nine Wolf's point of view.

Yvette rubbed her chin thoughtfully and made a statement. "So you feel as though time is flowing differently? In other words, your perception is being affected like everyone else's on the island. But your's is different…"

"What do you mean her's is different? I admit, I thought she was just whining the whole time, but now that I know everyone on this island is affected, what makes her different from us? You said that different people all had different perceptions and such," Nine Wolf said to his sister. Yvette shook her head.

"No that's not it. There are 3 things different based on what she's describing. The first, and most important difference are the little spikes in time she's describing. Our perception is making us feel as though time is consistently moving forward at it's regular pace. She's said that she's having moments where time feels as though it's jumping drastically ahead, and no one that we've spoken to anywhere on this island has described anything similar."

"Eh? Haven are you sure?" Nine Wolf said turning to Haven. Haven was busy looking at her boots and ignoring all the talking. She could feel herself getting tired. She looked up for a second to answer.

"Yeah." And with that, she looked back down. Nine Wolf felt a slight irritation at Haven. Yvette continued.

"Secondly, Zone manipulates our perceptions based on our regions. He can't have two people in the same place having their own versions of time. Based on the entrance you came in, you most likely came from the Coga side entrance, which I assume is where she was first affected. Since Aloe and I are Coga residents, she should have the same perception of time that we do, and right now I highly doubt that. And finally, look at her."

Nine Wolf switched his gaze from Yvette to Haven. He looked at her, but really didn't see what Yvette was trying to point out. Aloe's eyes were roaming all over Haven's body.

"I don't get it, what?" Asked Nine Wolf. He hated being confused.

"She just said she feels as though it's night time. Earlier, she was full of energy, and her eyes were vivid and alive. Now, she has visible bags, slack body language, and she's not paying attention well. All classic signs of sleepiness, not fatigue," Yvette said. Nine Wolf almost wanted to point out that Haven didn't pay attention half the time anyway, but he decided the other points were valid enough to justify what she was talking about, so there was no need. "It's almost as if it actually IS night time to her body," Yvette finished.

"Wait a second. I thought this Zone guy could only change our perception! For her to actually feel like she's tired and what not…..that's gotta be more than mental. That's an actual physical change in her! Is this guy that powerful!" Nine Wolf looked at Haven's now sleeping form concerned, as he loudly asked Yvette his question. "Is he doing something to her?"

"No." Yvette calmly said. Nine Wolf blinked and looked at her. "It's more like he's doing something to us. He's not simulating fatigue in her. It's more like, her body is actually responding correctly. Perhaps it really is night time to her, despite the sunny sky to us. Perhaps the time spikes are her brain's attempts to actually perceive the real truth."

"What?" Nine Wolf asked. "Your saying she's behind us or something in her own little world? That's why we sound like we're in slow motion? Cause she can't keep up or something?"

"Actually, your confusing yourself. It's the opposite of what you said. We aren't so far ahead of her, that she can barely comprehend what we say, it's more like we're behind her!"

Nine Wolf was completely lost now. "Huh?" he asked. He didn't get it.

Yvette smiled at her silly brother. It was just like old times with him being confused and having the exact opposite answer. "Sebastian, when you have super fast reflexes, a object coming at you appears slow or fast?"

"It's Nine Wolf. And it would be slow right?" Nine Wolf said, as he finally got it. "Yeah it would be slow, because your reflexes are quick enough to react. If it was fast to your reflexes, you'd most likely get hit. Ok, I get it."

"Now this brings us to the next question, Sebastian. If her body is truly experiencing the real time, why aren't our bodies? Why aren't we sleepy, and why didn't you sound super slow to everyone you encountered on the sea? Why is she different?" Aloe asked this question now, jumping into the conversation. She posed this question to Nine Wolf, knowing that he had no idea.

"I-I don't know," Nine Wolf said. Aloe smirked, and turned to look at Haven's delicate sitting-upright-sleeping position.

"I have a theory for that Aloe," said Yvette. "Zone's range must be limited to this island. He could't have possibly changed your perception when you were gone from this island. Maybe our bodies aren't affected because we've gotten used to the new time schedule. Humans are very adaptive. And I have no idea how she could be resisting Zone's powers…"

Nine Wolf stared into space for a moment before realization hit him. 'She did the same thing with my power back then. She drank that sea water, and it crippled my control. Also, her devil fruit resisted me somehow.'

"She still has traces of sea water in her," Nine Wolf said. Yvette and Aloe turned to him in surprise before laughing.

"That wouldn't matter Sebastian. We've all tried drinking sea water that we have stocked about the island, and we've even tried wearing seastone on ourselves. It doesn't stop his power," Aloe said as she laughed.

"…Well, what if I told you she already had the sea water in her before she got here? She has to have a little left in her, and since she had it before he used his thing on us it maybe diluted the effect….or something?" Nine Wolf suggested. He sounded skeptical at his own theory, prompting Aloe to laugh again.

"Wait Aloe, stop laughing! He might be right….I mean, we all tried using sea water AFTER we were already under the illusion. You know what that means right?"

"….Huh?" Nine Wolf and Aloe said together. Neither knew what this meant.

"It means that if sea water prevents or weakens the illusion, Zone only used his power of perception once. If he did it again, the seawater that's in our system would've combated the new illusion. So this means he's confident in his first cast, or that he can only affect our perception once. Do you know what this means? If Haven really is unaffected by Zone's powers, that means that we have made quite bit of progress on finding out what Zone is capable of!" Yvette felt herself getting excited.

"But the real question we need to answer is, 'where is he during the two day reprieve?' I doubt he would be there for the whole two days since he knows there might be an attempt on his life, so we may have a dilemma. Without that information, there's no point in finding out what he can do," Nine Wolf said. 'And plus, Yvette seems to forget this guy also has the whole island shift power too.'

"Regardless, we need to go ahead and force ourselves to go to sleep. We need to sync our internal clocks with Haven's, so that we can have a better grasp on the true time," Aloe said. She got close to Haven before Nine Wolf glared at her. She backed off, and Nine Wolf rolled his eyes. Her excuses were getting more pathetic. He turned to his sister.

"So what's our next move. You said we have at least a little information on Zone right?" Nine Wolf asked Yvette.

Yvette nodded. "That's right, but as you pointed out, he may not necessarily be in his Volcano. He could be in the town now, disguised, so it would be bad for us to go public with the information we've gotten. We'll just have to-" Yvette was cut off mid sentence by Haven.

"I'm HUNGRY!" Haven yelled suddenly with her head up. This surprised everyone in the room.

"Y-your awake? I thought you were asleep…..Haven what time do you usually get sleepy?" Yvette asked Haven. Now was a chance to get a good estimate on the real time.

"Wahahahaha! Whenever I feel like getting sleepy!" Nine Wolf deadpanned, and Yvette frowned. 'At this rate, I'll just have to go by her body language and visible sleep signs since she doesn't seem to take this seriously. At the very least, I know it's a time where her body gets tired, and she herself it felt like night.'

Haven slumped back from her sudden outburst to her sitting position as her eyes drooped a bit more. Aloe smiled at her. "Are you tired Heaven sweetheart?" She asked her. Nine Wolf noticed that Yvette winced slightly when Aloe called Haven, "Heaven."

Haven slowly nodded yes, and Aloe stood, presumably to lead her to a private bedroom. Nine Wolf stepped in and grabbed Haven by the hand leading her upstairs to a bedroom where she could rest, without fear of being touched. He left a jealous Aloe behind, with a now slightly jealous Yvette in the living room. Nine Wolf walked all the way to the third floor where he found a empty bedroom with a simple bed, and led Haven to it. As he turned to walk out so he could finish talking with Yvette, he heard her speak.

"Sebastian…do you think Bucket and Sickland are alright?" Nine Wolf was irritated that she called him Sebastian, but was slightly surprised at her words. The way she was acting, it was as though those two were a second thought to her.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"They…got separated from us a while ago. What do you think they're doing?" Haven asked. She sounded somber, Nine Wolf thought.

"Probably causing trouble looking for you. You saw them on the screen. The way Zone talked about them and had their pictures, it's most likely they have bounties now and he used their bounty photos to look for them. You probably have a bounty too."

Haven probably would have burst out into a laugh at the prospect of having a bounty, but she was too tired and…worried?

"All those people out there in the city. They're going to look for them right? They wouldn't go after you, you're a hero and all. I'm worried about Bucket mostly. He can't fight, at least I think. Sickland has cool stuff, but Bucket doesn't."

Nine Wolf couldn't believe this. The ever happy Haven was actually showing concern for her crew's well-being. A little late perhaps, but the way she spoke it made it seem like she was thinking about if for a while now.

"If you thought he couldn't fight, then why would you make him your first mate in the first place?"

"Because he's special to me." She simply answered. Nine Wolf couldn't help but smile at her answer.

"I'm sure Bucket's fine. He managed to cause enough trouble for Zone to get a manhunt after him, so I think he's smart and strong enough to not get taken down. Sick guy should be fine as well, he can fight right? You have nothing to worry about." Nine Wolf said.

Haven smiled. "I guess you're right. I just tried to not think about them, because I thought that they would have met up with us by now. Thanks Sebastian…by the way. I've always wanted to ask you something."

Nine Wolf let the Sebastian thing slide, and decided to entertain her question. "What is it?"

"Why are you a hero on this island?" She asked.

Nine Wolf sighed. He liked being humble now, more so than bragging about his past exploits. Yvette and Aloe were probably having a very lesbian conversation downstairs. He figured he had time to explain to her.

"I guess I have time. Listen closely Haven girl, and don't look bored when I start talking."

* * *

Author's Note: Flashback time. Every epic fanfic has to have at least ONE flashback. This flashback is actually going to have a lot more characters than you may think.


	24. Chapter 24

Author's Note: I'm BACK! Chapter 24 is up, and it's the first half of a epic little flashback saga! Hopefully, I can edit and upload the second half some time later tonite. I'd like to apologize for the sudden hiatus, and assure you I'm here in full swing this time. Thank you for reading!

**Important Note: From this point onward, I won't be putting down the time in the story anymore. I've gotten the point across that I needed and I've given enough clues to help you, the reader, determine the true time. Further along, I'll provide details on true motives, and true culprits behind Project Zone.**

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**15 Years ago, Larrigo Island, Freedom's Landing**

In front of the recruiting office near the center of Freedom's Landing was a large, raised platform. Originally just an old gallows, it was converted into an office of sorts, and had walls, a ceiling, and windows, just like any office, with the exception being that, in a sense, there was no first floor, and no door leading into the office. There was also a massive window that gave a view of the city. Since it was about 15 feet off the ground, the large wooden structure gave the Marines that were stationed there a great vantage point of the large sprawled out center of Freedom's Landing. The acting-commodore on duty would often stand up here to observe the crowds of people that were spread around the city. The platform he was standing one also had the tendency to squeak every now and then under pressure, probably because said structure has existed for decades on this island. The commodore would often use this audio cue to tell if anyone was coming up to disturb his peace. Today, the commodore was standing at his post, as per usual looking onward. He heard some squeaks coming from the stairs up, and he immediately turned his back to the approaching person so he could look cool. Luckily, the person coming up the stairs didn't see this frantic motion.

"Oi! Denver! Where are those rookies you sent out? They've been gone for an hour or so they should be back by-HERE! RIGHT HERE NOW!" The middle aged man who stomped up the stairs to speak to the commodore was furious (and apparently delirious). He got away with this usually because his superior, Denver, was a tranquil being of sorts. Denver only had one thing that really irritated him, namely being called Denver directly.

"Eh? Lieutenant Steadcroak, please refrain from those sudden outbursts. I have little to no idea what your talking about when you speak like that. And kindly refer to me as Commodore Nugget," said Denver. Steadcroak scowled at Denver. Not only did the man just ignore his question, he spoke to him in a condescending way, the way a knowing mother would talk to her overactive child. Steadcroak despised Denver in every way. Even as he looked upon his back, he felt his anger and jealousy brewing forth. Denver was young, good-looking, and already a high ranking officer in the Marines. His long flowing black hair, and his clean Marine uniform epitomized sex appeal, and frankly Steadcroak couldn't take it. Nevertheless, Steadcroak put his jealousy aside to step closer to his superior and ask his question.

"…Pardon me Commodore Nugget. I asked where those rookies you sent out earlier were? I have an urgent question to ask them. REALLY urgent," Steadcroak said in a faux relaxed tone.

"..Rookies?…You mean recruits. Rookies are those that have managed to completely enter the Marine ranks, and if anything these youths are still questionable."

Steadcroak made a face. The commodore was always trying to make him seem stupid. "There ain't no difference between rookie and recruit. And I know that they're questionable, this is an island in the most hostile sea of the blues! You think I'm misinformed or something?" Steadcroak didn't even attempt to hide his frustration. Denver smiled at his subordinate.

"Actually, that's not exactly why these rookies are questionable, lieutenant. It appears you were misinformed. I understand that we've only been stationed here for the past month or so, but you need to conduct more research into territories we occupy. So let me offer you a chance at redemption. Why are they questionable?"

"Umm….well.." Steadcroak hesitated as he was thinking. He really didn't have any idea what Denver was talking about. He was sure that the Marine recruiting office was set up here to recruit West Blue potentials AND to monitor activities in the more volatile Blue, but now he wasn't too sure.

Denver smiled and turned around to face Steadcroak. He enjoyed appearing smart, suave, and cool to his subordinates, especially the cocky ones like Steadcroak. "Wolves, lieutenant. Wolves. These rookies are questionable because they were born here on THIS island, not THIS sea." Denver stopped momentarily as he saw Steadcroak's confused face. "The Wolves are individuals from this island that have consumed what the islanders call Ahui."

"Ahui?" Steadcroak asked.

Apparently, it's a ceremonial dish that only the chosen can eat. If you consume it and you are worthy, you are said to gain magic-like abilities. If you are not, you will die, it is as simple as that." Denver once again turned his back on Steadcroak to look toward the city.

"Yeah that's nice but what does that to do with them being suspicious? So what, they worship achoo or whatever, what makes this island all different?" Steadcroak was once again confused. And he still didn't have an answer to his original question.

Denver sighed. "Well I guess since you didn't research, you aren't fully aware of what it means to be a Wolf and the history of this island. You just look that information up on your own, lieutenant. And to answer your question, I believe the 'rookies' you are looking for are in the recruiting office. Please check there, before you barge in on me." Denver said as he turned around and sat in his desk. Steadcroak clenched his hands and walked back downstairs outside. He was pissed that Denver ripped him a new one for supposedly being ignorant of the island and it's 'Wolves.'

"What an asshole," muttered Steadcroak as he walked into the recruiting office. The recruiting office looked much like a dental office, with the exception being that there was no threatening dentist lurking in the background. Oh, and there was all the Marine propaganda spread all over the walls. He walked over to the receptionist, a young, BUSTY woman by the name of Fraulein. She was a stereotypical blonde, cute and ditzy, with mouth-watering curves. Steadcroak would often sneak peeks at her, but he toned this down a bit after being noticed by several people, including his wife. Steadcroak shuddered at the thought of his spouse hearing all those rumors about him and the receptionist, and the supposed sexual romp he had with her.

"How are you doing today Lieutenant Steadcroak?" the blonde asked in a sweet voice. Her perfectly manicured hand rested on her table as she slowly drummed it waiting for his reply.

"Good. Where are those rookies that the commodore sent out earlier? I was told I could check with you to see," Steadcroak said to her in his usual tone.

"Rookies? The only rookie ensign we have on file is Maglin, and he drowned recently, about 2 weeks back. Do you mean the new recruits?"

Steadcroak was pissed that rookie and recruit apparently weren't synonymous, but regardless, he answered her, "yes, the new recr-ROOKIES! You know what I mean!"

Fraulein slid back in her chair, slight taken aback. "Well yes, we have potential ensigns Caramel, Rider, and Bastion. They're in the barracks, about to go on fog duty." She spoke to Steadcroak in a slightly hostile tone.

"I see. Thanks," he said in a monotone. He turned to leave before remembering something. "By the way Fraulein, have you seen my daughter anywhere?"

"Maybelle? Whenever I usually see her she's around that Bastion boy, so I guess it's safe to say she would be in the barracks too."

Steadcroak grinded his teeth and slammed the door as he walked out, and toward the barracks.

'I should've never have let her come on this tour of duty with me. Honor was her damn excuse. Instead she's just acting like a typical slut with all these sea folk. Damn it all to hell.'

* * *

"Drahahahaha! He called us rookies! Get a load of that! Old Steadcrotch don't know how his own system work!" Sebastian laughed as he listened to the den den mushi on his bed that was playing audio from a planted den den mushi in the commodore's office. The planted den den mushi was present so that the older members of the barracks (the ensigns) could stay up to date on potential pay raises and reprimands that would be coming. Today, Sebastian was using it to kill time.

"Steadcrotch? You're seriously the funniest guy I know Blastin' Bastion!" A young man of the age of 20 said as he got down from his bunk and faced Sebastian. The young man had tame, green hair and hid his dark eyes behind glasses. He was slightly overweight, but not so much that Sebastian believed he had a chance of the bed collapsing in and killing him. Sebastian immediately scowled at having one of his many nicknames brought up.

"It's not 'Blastin Bastion, or Sebastian asshole, it's Eight Wolf!" Sebastian sneered at his comrade. "Got that Caramel Booty-Smell?"

The young man referred to as "Caramel Booty Smell" frowned at this."It's just Dean you queef. Don't call me all that other crap! And you the Eight Wolf? That's laughable. The Seven hasn't even kicked the bucket yet.

"Actually, the Seven was killed about 2 days ago, when he entered the Grand Line," a third voice said entering the conversation. Sebastian and Dean looked to the other side of the room to Rider. Sterling Rider was laying on his back on the top bunk, with his hands resting behind his head, and his legs stretched out. Rider was a medium sized teenager, standing about 6'0 even, with tan skin, hazel eyes, and dark black messy hair that nearly covered his eyes. In his ears he had black studs. He looked more like a rock star than a marine recruit. Sebastian smiled as his support came in before he even had to rebuttal Dean.

"See? Even Rider knows about that shit, but I guess you wouldn't Booty Meat, read a newspaper or something," Sebastian said to Dean.

"It's not Booty dammit! And are you guys serious? How did the Seven die? He was only out there for 2 days! He set a new record!"

"Show some respect," Rider said, in his usual aloof tone. "We didn't really get any details, just that the authorities have complete evidence that he died. But that's strange."

Sebastian was nodding in agreement with Rider's words until he got to the 'strange' part. "Wait, what's so strange about that? Grand Line is tough, he probably got killed by those sick pirates out there or a sea monster or even the Marines. If I were him, I would've just looted the blues until I had enough to retire," Sebastian said.

Rider shook his head. "No, I mean that complete evidence shit. If a sea monster killed him, it most likely ate im too. If a pirate killed him, they'd leave his body afloat, turn it in, or parade it around. If the Marines killed him, it's a confirmed kill and all that. But the story said they had 'complete evidence' he was killed. Not that they had a body or witnesses, or something like that which they usually have. They didn't even say what the evidence was."

Sebastian and Dean looked at each other. Rider would rarely go into his brilliant conspiracy theories, but when he did, he would lose them, so they would act as though he said nothing.

"Booty. Meat," Sebastian said to Dean, as his lips curled into a smile.

Dean scowled as the den den mushi continued to emit the conversation going between the lieutenant and commodore.

**"Please check there, before you barge in on me." **The den den mushi emitted.

"Check where? Oh shit, why's he looking for us?" Sebastian asked.

"If you weren't talking all that time you might've heard him stupid. I guess we gotta get another assignment," Dean said.

"He's going to the main office. I heard the conversation. And like Caramel said, it's probably to give us our next assignment," Rider said. He was still relaxing on his bed, with his eyes shut, oblivious to the angry Dean shaking on the other side of the room.

"Another assignment? I heard somewhere that on other seas the recruits only have to do like 1 or 2 assignments before they become ensigns! We're on like our 5th assignment!" Sebastian said, slightly upset.

"Suck it up. You already knew they'd give us a lot of stuff to do to test our loyalty to the Marines and shit," Rider said.

"Test our loyalty?" Dean asked.

"Dumbass," Sebastian said as he turned off the den den mushi and smacked Dean upside the head with it.

"YOW!….what the hell are you guys talking about?" Dean exclaimed.

Rider sighed. "Dean you've lived here for about what? 6 years? So I'll cut you some slack. You know about the Wolves right?" Dean asked, and continued once getting a nod from Dean. "Well, to become a Wolf there's some things you have to do. Two of the things are mysteries to those that aren't Wolves, but we know three of the things. One, you must consume Ahui and live."

"Ahui?" Dean asked. "Isn't that like some legendary fruit that only grows here?"

"No," Rider answered. "You must have heard that from one of those spiritual nuts around here. In actuality, Ahui is regular fruit, and Devil Fruit." Dean looked dumbfounded as Rider continued, "We've been callin' Devil Fruit Ahui since this island came to be, and a Devil Fruit washed up here, at a certain patch of Ahui near the sea water. Some guy from way back when ate it, and got special powers. Thing is, the Devil Fruit looks a lot like Ahui, so the man brought all the others to a field of Ahui. He said that the Ahui had the powers of gods, and he demonstrated his powers. The people were amazed, and for his finale he did a swan dived into the ocean far away. He drowned naturally, but since he didn't put up a struggle and the people couldn't tell he drowned, everyone thought the gods claimed him, you know like a punishment for eating forbidden fruit."

"What?…..so it's all like a folk tale?" Dean asked.

Sebastian laughed. "Of course. The Dark Ages are long gone Dean Booty, we don't believe in that power of the gods crap anymore. It's just a fun little story to tell newcomers and tourists that Ahui can kill you if you're not chosen. The truth is passed down from generation to generation and the funny story is passed through books about this island."

Dean frowned. "Then why make eating Ahui a test if it can't kill you?"

"To make sure you're a local islander. If you think that the Ahui can kill you, you'd be from somewhere else right?" Rider said simply.

"Wait a minute. If everyone that's from this island knows that, what's stopping them from being Wolves too?" Dean's questions never ceased. Sebastian face palmed.

"Remember when we said that there were MULTIPLE THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO TO BECOME A WOLF?"

"…..oh yeah. So what are the other things..?" Dean asked, as the door to the barracks slammed open. All three young men looked toward the open door to see Steadcroak standing in the doorway, with a furious expression on his face. All three of them immediately hopped to attention, with Rider's idea of hopping to attention being, slowly getting out of a comfortable position and placing his hands in his pockets.

"You three have no idea how long it took to fin-FOUND YOUU! FINALLY!" Steadcroak yelled at them. Sebastian stood his ground still in his salute, Rider maintained his cool pose, and Dean squirmed slightly. Steadcroak looked pissed.

"At ease, whatever! I said at ease! I've had an assignment for you all for quite some time! Before I get to that pressing issue, I have to ask about the whereabouts of one Maybelle Steadcroak! I was informed that she can usually be found around one Bastion?

Dean calmed down as he realized that he wasn't in trouble and he turned and smirked at Sebastion.

Sebastian, without missing a beat, answered, "yes sir, I'm Bastion! I have no knowledge of her whereabouts sir!"

"Are you sure about that rookie? Where did you last see her?"

"Sir, it's recruit sir! I saw her last when she finished her assignment sir! She's most likely in the women's barracks sir!"

"Women….barracks…? I see, uh, well, uh….HEY! DON'T CORRECT ME 'ROOKIE!' Anyway, you're all assigned to a domestic manner. An important one I might add. The head council woman, Silvia Nightly, has requested you three rookies in particular to help her with this. She has also requested the other rookie from this island that isn't part of your group. Since the Marines are trying to improve our relations with the West Blue islands, we will comply with her wishes. You three head there ASAP! GET GOING! NOW!" Steadcroak spat, as he stormed out of the barracks, slightly embarrassed and angry.

"The nerve….." he muttered under his breath.

Sebastian, Dean, and Rider relaxed as they all shared a laugh at how Sebastian ridiculed the lieutenant and managed to get away with it.

"I thought you were meat," Dean said as he slapped a hand on Sebastian's shoulder.

"Naw. The only meat around here is you, Booty Meat."

"Nice," Rider said with a cool smile. Rider rarely laughed or smiled along with the other two members of his group.

"Hey guys!" A girl's voice spoke. The three young men looked toward the door. A young orange haired girl walked into the barracks. She was wearing the standard navy uniform, and had her hair in a ponytail with the navy cap firmly on her head. With her cold, gray eyes, Maybelle Steadcroak was quite a looker. Too bad about her name though.

"Hi," Rider emotionlessly said.

"Sup, Steadcrotc-" Dean began before he was roughly elbowed by Sebastian. Sebastian liked having Maybelle as a friend, so he really didn't want Dean saying anything to upset her. And it was HIS JOKE. No one in a million years could beat Steadcrotch (we'll see in 15 years).

"Hey Maybelle," Sebastian said to her. "Your old man was just in here chewing us out again. I don't see how you two are related! Drahahaha!" Sebastian laughed as Maybelle took in his appearance.

'Sebastian is such a great guy…I mean…I haven't know him long..but he's…' she thought before she came back to her senses. "I don't know how either Seb-"

"Eight Wolf," Sebastian corrected her.

"Uh…Eight Wolf." She honestly didn't know what the whole Wolf thing meant, but she knew it was important to Sebastian, so it was important to her. "What are you guys doing? Weren't you all just given an assignment? This is like the 5th time you're doing one right?"

Rider scowled. "Yea, because we're natives here. Seems the Marines don't trust us enough…." Sebastian shook his head at Rider, practically begging him to stop. Rider complied, albeit with a grimace on his face. Dean was disappointed. It sounded like he was going to start talking more in depth about why this island in particular had a problem with the Marines.

"Hm?" Maybelle was confused. "Well, anyway you guys better get going! The sooner you guys finish up, the quicker you can all come back and hang out!" She smiled. 'Especially you, Sebastian.'

"Yeah, this'll probably be easy and quick and all that. Come on guys let's go ahead and get this done with," Sebastian said as he nodded to the door.

* * *

**Present Day**

"Ahui?" Haven asked Nine Wolf. "Ahui is what I ate? Or a Devil Fruit?

"Wha...? A DEVIL FRUIT HAVEN GIRL YOU ATE A FREAKIN DEVIL FRUIT!"

"But you sai-"

"Just listen to my story please! We've wasted enough time alread-"

"SEBASTIAN! YOU BETTER NOT BE TRYING ANYTHING!" A voiced yelled upstairs to him. Nine Wolf scowled. It sounded a lot like Aloe.

"Tch...Haven girl, I'll tell you the rest of the story later. Right now I've gotta help those two. Get some rest." Nine Wolf got up and closed the door behind him.

Haven looked on as the door closed, and then stared up at the ceiling. She actually listened to Nine Wolf's story since it wasn't as boring as she thought it would be (he cursed a lot and said booty) and it made her relax a bit. Still, her mind kept going to her crew. If Nine Wolf really thought this guy was a threat, as strong as he was, she was sure that Zone could hurt Buckley and Sickland.

'Bucket. Sickland.' She thought. She closed her eyes and focused deeply. For some reason, she got this strange feeling that they were in deep trouble. She was especially concerned about Buckley.

* * *

Author's Note: Officially my second longest chapter, it still pales in comparison to my chapter 7 though. Review and critique as always, and let me know about any pairing ideas or crazy character names.


	25. Chapter 25

Hey! Chapter 25 is currently under the editing process. It should be up within the next 6 hours (hopefully) with the latest time it goes up being around 12 hours in the future. I really need some more people to suggest character names and pairings, since I seem to do bad on those two in particular often. Send a PM or drop a review and tell me what you think. Thank you!


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